Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
What do you think of the way "creation science" uses the "second law of thermodynamics" to argue that human society will become more and more depraved, and that the universe is running down? Creation Science is not monolithic, and so it would be unfair to say that everyone working in…
From time to time we receive questions that are interesting, and that other people would also be interested in. I'll [address] two such questions in this issue [and the next]. I recently made a will which, in the event that my wife does not survive me, grants my eldest son…
As we go from Old Testament chronology to New Testament chronology, it will be a good idea to examine a deep-seated myth that is profoundly intertwined with Biblical Christianity. I have in mind the myth that there is in the Bible such a thing as a collection of books called…
Several years ago, the Wall Street Journal gave prominent recognition to a book called Who Wrote the Bible? The book was a popularization of the famous "Documentary Hypothesis," which claims that the Pentateuch was not the work of Moses, but was a (rather incompetent) pastiche of contradictory sources written much…
The epistle of James has long presented dificulties for New Testament scholars. Its seemingly moralistic tone, its apparent inattention to theological concerns, its defense of "justification by works" all have made it dificult for interpreters to discern its compatibility with other New Testament books. Luther’s dismissal of James as an…
Why the Lamb? But why the lamb? We have seen that the bull was the offering for the sins of priests, especially as they represented the nation before God in His house. Wasn’t Christ the greatest of all men? Wasn’t He the Great High Priest? Should He not rather be…
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When a storm breaks out at sea on a voyage to Tarshish, the sailors want to know who Jonah is. He tells them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh God of heaven who made the sea and dry land” (Jonah 1:9; Hebrew for “the dry” is yabbashah ).…
Psalm 101 begins as praise to the Lord (v. 1), but it quickly becomes a description of David's reign as king. He thinks of his royal house, and his rule, as a replica of Yahweh's palace and His rule. One must be pure to enter the courts of Yahweh, and…
In an essay entitled “The World is Not Flat,” sociologist Stephen Warner describes his growing realization of the limits of sociological theories of religion. Initially attracted to the “sacred canopy” ideas of Berger and Luckman, he came to the insight that the theories were forged from European rather than American…
I n a seminal 2001 essay, Fenggang Yang and Helen Rose Ebaugh studied 13 Houston-area religious institutions to discover how the religious lives of new immigrants are changed by their move to America. They discovered three processes: The congregations adapt “in organizational structure and ritual”; they return to “theological foundations”;…
To our modern democratic ear, “King of kings, Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; 19:16) sounds redundant. It's not. The two superlatives are drawn from quite different contexts. Yahweh is “Lord of lords” (Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalm 136:3). But the only figures described as “king of kings” in the…
We are the temple of the living God, Paul says (2 Corinthians 6:16), and he supports the claim with a string of quotations. God says, “I will dwell in them and walk among them” (Exodus 29:45). He says, “I will be their God and they shall be My people” (Genesis…
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