Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In the first post of this series, I proposed that the sacraments of baptism and communion are the nexus point for the evangelical and ecumenical movements. In the following post , I proposed a new orientation for ecumenism – a conciliarity of the cross – with the necessary confession of…
“Contextualization” is now, and has been for a long time, the buzzword for the day. 1 Missionary effort in non-Western countries is all about “contextualization” — making our communication of the Gospel, if not the Gospel itself, fit into the culture to whom we from the West speak. 2 There…
In my previous post , I highlighted the sacraments as the point of convergence between evangelicalism and ecumenism arguing that baptism and communion are presented in the New Testament as signs of the gospel that simultaneously enact and remember union with Christ and the unity of Christ’s body. I concluded…
Click HERE for Part I of this series. What does baptism have to do with culture? As I said in the previous essay, the short answer is “everything!” To begin with, baptism is baptism into Jesus’ death (Romans 6:3). Paul explains this as the crucifixion of the “old man” (“old…
In the accounts of our Lord’s nativity and early childhood, so familiar to us from many years of Advent and Christmas services, we often fail to recognize in them the gentle intimations of a greater nativity that is yet to come. The attentive ear, however, can discover in these passages…
Isaiah warns that Yahweh is coming to remove Judah’s leaders in every area of social, economic and political life so completely that there will be no one left to lead besides children (3:4) and women (v. 12). As Isaiah goes on, however, it becomes clear that the women of Judah…
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The account of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:3-13) is arranged in a chiastic order: A. Two witnesses, olive trees, lampstands, vv 3-4 B. Devouring enemies with fire from mouth, v 5 C. Authority to shut up heaven, turn waters, smite earth, v 6 D. Beast from abyss makes war, overcomes,…
“ W ho’s afraid of modern art? ” asks Daniel Siedell. He answers, “I am.” As critic and curator, Siedell is passionately devoted to modern art. It frightens him because that is what it’s supposed to do. Munch’s The Scream , for instance, doesn’t just express the painters own anxieties.…
I n the terrible trial scene in Till We Have Faces , the gods strip away layer after layer of Queen Orual’s self-justification, and when she has been laid bare, she finally has something to say to them: “Lightly men talk of saying what they mean. Often when he was…
In his 1959 Luther the Expositor , Jaroslav Pelikan remarked on the tendency of church historians to neglect the main thing in theologians of the past: “Entire histories have been written - histories of a whole section of the church, of an era in church history or of a major…
According to Augustine, all of Constantine’s achievements were gifts of God ( City of God , 5.25): He “gave to the Emperor Constantine, who was not a worshipper of demons, but of the true God Himself, such fulness of earthly gifts as no one would even dare wish for. To…
Donald Norwood reminds us in Reforming Rome that the Reformers were eager for a ecumenical council to resolve the conflicts sparked by the Reformation. In 1560, Calvin writes, “In order to put an end to the divisions which exist in Christianity, there is need to have a free and universal…
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