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Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Ephesians

“Be Holy for I am Holy”

Below is an excerpt from Mark Horne’s manuscript from his forthcoming commentary on Ephesians, specifically on Paul’s reference to Christians as “saints” (Ephesians 1:1). “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.” Paul greets…

by Mark HorneMarch 25, 2025
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Exodus

The Perishable in the Ark of the Covenant

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt (2 Chronicles 5:10). When Solomon finally brought the ark of the covenant to the finished temple in…

by Jonathan WhiteMarch 18, 2025
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Exodus

The Stages of a Man’s Life and the Second Table of the Law

In As You Like It , Shakespeare famously describes the seven ages of a man’s life. The division of man’s life into stages is not an invention by Shakespeare, nor merely a common medieval artifice, but an expression of the real journey taken in life. Shakespeare seems to divide up…

by Ryan HandermannMarch 13, 2025
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Christology

The Essence of God’s Image

Is there a chief characteristic which best illumines the image of God in Man? What is it exactly that makes Man as a lens through which to see God? Moses thoughtfully and deliberately escorts the reader to the characteristic showcased above all else: humility. Though much ink has been spilled…

by Ben LoveladyMarch 11, 2025
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Liturgy

Two Ways of Being Liturgical: A Baptist Response to the High Church Exodus

Note: This essay is adapted from a talk delivered at the Howell E. Jackson Committee conference on “Foundations of Baptist Education,” held at Union University, Oct. 4-5, 2024. It’s no secret that evangelicals are converting to High Church traditions, a term I will use to refer to Anglo-Catholicism, Roman Catholicism,…

by Ryan SinniMarch 4, 2025
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Icons

Don’t Convert: Icons and Images in the Early Church

In recent years, there has been a flurry of conversions from Protestant Christianity towards Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, at least in part due to their supposed early church heritage relative to Protestantism. In the words of Rod Dreher, a former Methodist who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, “Many evangelicals seek…

by John CarpenterFebruary 25, 2025

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RomansPolitical Theology

Body Life in the Imperial Capital

Romans 13:1-7 is often separated from its context and treated as a Pauline statement about the Christian’s or the church’s relation to the state. We can certainly draw some conclusions from the passage: God is the source of all public authority (13:1). Whoever resists authority resists the ordinance of God…

December 16, 2019
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American CultureAmerican Politics

Strong Gods

Over the past decade, Rusty Reno, editor at First Things , has established himself as one of America’s most interesting cultural and political voices. In his recent Return of the Strong Gods , Rusty offers an eccentric reading of recent history as a collapse of what he calls the “postwar…

December 11, 2019
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Romans

Body Life

The gospel is an inherently political message. As Paul explains it in Romans 1, it’s the announcement that Jesus, Son of David, has been installed as King in His resurrection. Romans 12—15 fills out the ecclesio-political import of this message. Because Jesus is King, He will restore human society. Because…

December 9, 2019
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Literature

Red Sky in Morning

Red Sky in Morning , Paul Lynch's 2013 debut novel, is a stylistic tour de force . Like the poetry of Seamus Heaney (whom Lynch credits for inspiration), he captures the craggy, muck-mudded landscape of Lynch's native Ireland. Convoluted syntax, unobtrusive Irish colloquialisms, hints of alliterative verse lend the novel…

December 4, 2019
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Romans

What About Israel? Finale

Over the past several weeks, I've argued that in Romans 9-11 Paul offers a first-century solution to a first-century problem. Paul doesn't , I argue, predict a conversion of Jews in the distant future. He argues instead that Israel's role in the foundation of the new covenant takes the form…

December 2, 2019
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American PoliticsCulture Wars

Primal Screams

Mary Eberstadt’s Primal Screams is a well-researched, cleanly-written book, full of evidence, theories, statistics, anecdotes, analysis. Its thesis is arresting and compelling. Eberstadt claims we can trace the rise of identity politics to the “Great Scattering” that followed the sexual revolution of the 1960s. When we as a culture decided…

November 27, 2019

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