Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Paul writes to Jews, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:22b) The English translation “rob temples” makes readers think of pagan temples. There was only one Temple for Israel, so robbing more than one would indicate other temples are in view. And if the Jews wanted to…
Two offerings Humanity’s first vocation involves guarding and serving the trees that emerge from the ground (Genesis 2:15). God provides these trees to humanity for food. A serpent appears and tempts the couple to eat from a special forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Humanity…
At the outset of the Torah (as Christians understand it), a triune God creates the heavens and earth over the course of a seven-day week. Why? What’s the connection between the three and the seven? Could a triune God have created the world over any period of time he chose?…
How relevant to the modern reader are the flying axe head of Deuteronomy 19:5 and the roof parapet of Deuteronomy 22:8? Indeed, how relevant were they to the daily lives of Israelites thirty-five hundred years ago? Suppose that accidental falls from rooftops were exceedingly uncommon in ancient Israel, or that…
1 For most of my life, the standing of the American church as a source of national social and political order was measured by reports from the front of the so-called “culture wars.” 2 Memory brings to mind battles over feminism and the ERA, so-called gay rights, the breakdown of…
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel…’ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the…
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Robert Filmer, Locke’s main opponent in his First Treatise , nails the flaw in Hobbes’s theory concerning the state of nature: “I cannot understand how this right of nature can be conceived without imagining a company of men at the very first to have been all created together without any…
According to Laurie Bagby ( Thomas Hobbes: Turning Point for Honor , 5-7 ), Hobbes sets out to “deconstruct” the idea of honor by collapsing it “into what he calls ‘vainglory’ or harmful ‘pride.’” That’s well and good, depending of course on what we mean by the word “honor.” What…
A mediation for the baptism of my third granddaughter, June Annwyn Marie Tollefson. Ephesians 5:8: You were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the world; walk as children of Light. It’s a good Sunday for a baptism. In many churches, today, the third Sunday of Advent, is Gaudete…
1 John 1:5: This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. We sin because of unbelief, and unbelief is distrust. Adam sinned when he became convinced that God was withholding the fruit…
Advent celebrates the coming of day. The Light that lightens every man comes into the world to break the gloom that hangs over Israel and the nations. Zecharias sings, “The Sunrise from on high has visited us.” Night is past; Dawn has come. You’d think everyone would be glad, but…
Athenian democracy was an effort to dislodge political power from the tangles of patronage. Athenians viewed dependence as virtual slavery, and created institutional structures to prevent indebtedness - real and symbolic. Many of these structures ensured rule by the demos in their various citizen assemblies. But that did not, of…
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