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

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Leviticus

The Theology of the Drink Offering

The drink offering or libation ( nesek ) is mentioned in only three places in the book of Leviticus. When the sheaf of the firstfruits was waved before the Lord, a grain offering was to be burned, along with "its libation, a fourth of a hin of wine [approx. one…

by Peter LeithartJuly 17, 2018
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Atonement

Limited Atonement & J. I. Packer

When I became a Calvinist it wasn't long before I learned that John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ was regarded as the masterful treatise on what is known as "Limited Atonement"--the "L" in the TULIP mnemonic device for "the five points of Calvinism." This wasn't…

by Mark HorneJuly 12, 2018
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Hermeneutics

Bathsheba: The Real Story

One of the advantages of paying very close attention to the details in the Bible, especially chronological and genealogical details, is that they can shed light on situations that don’t seem to make much sense apart from them. One such situation is that of Bathsheba. It appears that Bathsheba willingly…

by James B. JordanJuly 10, 2018
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Leviticus

The Oddness of the Feast of Booths

The Feast of Ingathering in the seventh month of the Sinaitic calendar is also called the Feast of Sukkoth, of Booths, also called Feast of Tabernacles. I have usually called it by that last phrase, and it is the most common today; but there is a problem: A tabernacle is…

by James B. JordanJuly 5, 2018
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Matthew

A Universe Less Expanded

When Matthew’s Gospel was first read aloud to the fledgling Christian congregations, the experience must have been like seeing the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” appear afresh on cinema screens in 1999. Yet, unlike The Phantom Menace, the New Testament did not disappoint. Why?…

by Mike BullJuly 3, 2018
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Art

Seeking Integration in a Fragmented World: Kintsugi Integration

Fragmentation and integration are phenomena which artist Makoto Fujimura feels bodily, and about which he is concerned profoundly. What do these mean for him? How may we draw his insights into this ongoing consideration—itself integrative—of integration in a fragmented world? Thus far I have been acquainting you with matters already…

by Esther Lightcap MeekJune 28, 2018

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What Anselm Didn't Do

Harnack didn't much like Anselm's Cur Deus Homo . Toward the end of his summary and critique in History of Dogma, vol. 6 , he pays Anselm a back-handed compliment: “perhaps no one can frame a better, who isolates the death of Christ from His life, and wishes to see…

February 17, 2016

Blood of the Son

At Theopolis this week, we spent a long time poring over the strange episode in Exodus 4:24-26. Moses is returning from Midian to Egypt, and stops at a lodging place, where “Yahweh met him and sought to put him to death.” Zipporah saved the day by circumcising Gershom, spreading the…

February 17, 2016

Milton as Propagandist and Poet

In his classic study of Psychological Warfare , Paul Linebarger offers historical examples of successful and unsuccessful psychological warfare. Milton's support for the Cromwellian regime calls into the latter category: “Milton fell into the common booby-trap of refuting his opponents item by item, thus leaving them the strong affirmative position,…

February 17, 2016

The Dogmatic Necessity of AD 70

Raymund Schwager ( Jesus in the Drama of Salvation ) that human beings are “simultaneously involved in two situations. As responsible for sins, all belong to the great band of those who form an alliance against God's anointed, judge him, drive him out, and reject him. As victims of their…

February 16, 2016

Orthodox “Invasion”

When Pope Francis met with the Russian Patriarch Kirill met last Friday, it was an ecumenical moment of the highest order, the first meeting in history between a bishop of Rome and a Russian Patriarch. The meeting highlights two of the most important events of the 20 th century –…

February 16, 2016

Unutterable Groans

Israel's suffering in Egypt was intense. Israel's growth spooked Pharaoh. Multiplying and spreading and growing, Israel looked like a threat to Egypt. To protect the system, Pharaoh took stern action. He subjected Israel to hard labor, then had their sons killed, then instructed his people to throw the sons of…

February 16, 2016

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