Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
What is below is fairly self-explanatory. This is an exchange I had with a local liberal clergyman on the subject of abortion. The circumstances of the debate are included in the text itself. I initially e-mailed this out to a list of clergy in our city after a local (and…
The seemingly humdrum parts of the Bible often hide overlooked wisdom. Take, for example, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Their stories aren't exactly the most gripping or memorable. They are far less concrete than, say, the story of the Exodus. No one in Ezra is stricken blind or devoured…
For most of the past century, philosophical perspectives on life in the western world have been overtly grim and pessimistic. The optimism of the Enlightenment, generated by confidence in the scientific method and the potential of an increasingly civilized humanity to redress the evils of the world, was shattered by…
Chiastic structures are found all over the Bible, and in recent decades commentators have become more adept at spotting them. But identifying these literary structures is only part of the challenge. There remains the challenge of understanding what they mean. Part of the answer is found in the recognition that…
Part 1 can be found HERE . Clearly, more than just getting worship right is important in changing the world, but since worship is the central act of God’s people, performed on the first day of the week at the center of the world before the very face of God,…
“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed.” ( Luke 11:27 ) Arguing for Christian morality in a secular society is difficult. A culture which accepts evolutionary dogma has no intellectual place — or inherent desire — for absolute morality, since it believes morality…
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It's an inventive solution. In an essay on the Logic of Impurity , David Kraemer argues, counterintuitively, that impurity marks something as God's possession. He argues from the strange anomalies associated with corpse defilement and its cleansing: “The human corpse is, according to the Torah, the most powerful source of…
Holy Week is a passage through darkness, as we commemorate the betrayal, arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. But Holy Week doesn't end on the cross. Easter dispels the darkness. Good Friday followed by Easter means that darkness and death no longer mark an end, but mark a beginning. It…
Paul Ludwig ( Eros and Polis ) observes that “A recurrent feature of ancient Greek political discourse was the assertion that erotic passion was a causal factor in the emergence and maintenance, as well as the decline, of the Greek polis.” But this didn't make the Greek proto-Foucauldians: “the term…
Kelley Bulkeley's Big Dreams is about the big subject of religion, examined from the perspective of our dreaming. He begins with the simple, well-known observation that most of our dreams are quickly forgotten, while “a few are highly memorable.” Any account of dreaming should try to account for this. Taking…
As Paul strolls through Athens, what impresses him is not the architecture, culture, or art. He sees that the city is full of idols, and he is provoked in spirit (Acts 17:16). That provokes a few reflections. What did Paul see that others in Athens did not see? What would…
Gustave Le Bon's The Crowd was first published in 1895. It reads like something taken from today's headlines about the crowds generated by Donald Trump's campaign. Le Bon argued that a crowd involved the “disappearance of conscious personality and the turning of feelings and thoughts in a definite direction, which…
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