Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In my last essay, we saw how consumer culture has gutted the familial category necessary to understand the church. When a consumer visits a church, he expects another service-provider, such as a hospital or a restaurant. He doesn’t understand the role of men in ministry, and thus, not the role…
First time visitors to our church sometimes express their surprise that children, even the youngest, participate with their parents in the entire worship service. Many congregations created an expectation for the parents (and children) of Sunday School or Child Care being available during the entire worship service or during the…
Quantifying the Love of God “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ~ John 3:16 This most beloved verse in all the Bible was spoken by the Savior himself to Nicodemus. As…
While The Lord’s Prayer enjoys wide recognition throughout the Church, its richness and depth may be unrealized due to a lesser familiarity with, what I will argue is, its primary inspiration: the Tabernacle. There, Christ’s intent can rightly be discerned. The Prayer’s methodological correction to the Jews and Gentiles wasn’t…
The Consumption of the Covenant Idea of the Church Last time we saw consumerism, having canalized its attitudes in our culture, shapes what the consumer sees when he or she steps into a church. Here, we’ll see how it has eviscerated the covenant and familial ideas necessary to understand the…
The ignoble Jayber Crow can stir your appetite for the noble. It’s the simplicity of a good ol’ Port William boy that builds the charm of the book. In fact, the elitists in Port William receive the harshest blows and severest outcomes, as they should. But before delving into the…
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P lutocrats , Chrystia Freeland’s 2013 book, is about the rise of the “global super-rich” and the ways the global economy squeezes the middle classes in development countries. Freeland argues that “we are living through two, slightly different gilded ages that are unfolding simultaneously. The industrialized West is experiencing a…
“T o understand the mind-set of the super-elite,” writes Chrystia Freeland in Plutocrats , “your starting point should be the reality—and their own self-perception—that they, too, lead anxious, overworked, and uncertain lives.” Unlike the super-rich of earlier ages, most of today's billionaires didn't inherit wealth, and they aren't a leisure…
D oes Protestantism Have A Future? The answer to that question depends on what we mean by the word “Protestantism.” We Protestants typically think of Protestantism in doctrinal terms. Protestantism is the sola s, justification by grace through faith, opposition to the merit theology of medieval Catholicism. These doctrines are…
I n his commentary on Revelation 4, Victorinus spins off a fascinating allegory about the wings of the living creatures who surround the Lords’ throne. Four living creatures with six wings each: Victorinus does the obvious and multiplies. The resulting twenty-four wings represent the twenty-four books of the Old Testament,…
A fter he recounts Yahweh’s commitment to the Davidic line (1 Chronicles 17), the Chronicler recounts David’s conquests (ch. 18). David strikes to the west (Philistia, v. 1) and east (Moab, v. 2; Aram, vv. 3-8), and Abishai later follows up with an annexation of Edomite territory to the south…
T he Chronicler’s account of the death of Saul (1 Chronicles 10) is organized in three paragraphs: first, an account of the battle of Mount Gilboa; then, an account of the Philistine seizure of Saul’s body and its rescue by men from Jabeth-Gilead; finally, an editorial evaluation of Saul. The…
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