Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
After Elijah’s battered and depressed howling in the wilderness it must have seemed like the new prophet came eating and drinking. Which is a pattern we see again in the New Testament—John is explicitly identified with Elijah (Luke 1.17, Matthew 11.14), howling the truth in the wilderness that the people…
Reading Robert Conquest’s biography of Stalin 1 has opened new lines of meditation on Paul’s command in Colossians 3:9. But before turning to that, let me briefly indicate what Paul is not saying. He is not saying that there is no such thing as righteous deception, such as Jael practiced…
You won’t find wild lions today in Israel. But lions used to range much more widely than they do now, and in biblical times they were a menace that shepherds in Israel had to contend with. David did as a shepherd boy, and Amos—who “ was among the sheepbreeders of…
I would like to remedy a flaw for English speakers in the book of Genesis. A flaw that may seem innocuous, but we must remember where the devil lives...in the details. If we are to fear the Lord, it behooves our translation committees to ensure that the fearfulness of God…
While reading at my son’s baseball game this week, a mom from our school approached me and asked if I was reading Dante. I wasn’t, but our sons are both reading Divine Comedy in their sophomore literature class, so it was a reasonable question. What unfolded was a quick conversation…
In the first two essays in this series, I addressed the question of how the nations would learn about Israel’s Torah, in the second essay especially emphasizing the aesthetic aspects of Israel’s testimony. For we naturally wonder: How would people in Mesopotamia or Egypt, not to mention the rest of…
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There’s an interview regarding by recent book on empire at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/ this morning.
Shylock has been played for sympathy frequently in the past century. But the sense that his character fits badly in a comedy is an old one. Already in 1709, Nicholas Rowe wrote, “Tho’ we have seen that Play Receiv’d and Acted as a Comedy, and the Part of the Jew…
In an old article in the Shakespeare Quarterly , Barbara Lewalski suggests that Merchant of Venice is a moralistic allegory depicting the character of Christian love. In the play, Christian love involves “giving and forgiving: it demands an attitude of carelessness regarding the things of this world founded upon a…
Mahood again ( The Merchant of Venice (The New Cambridge Shakespeare) ), describing Shakespeare’s and Shylock’s use of the gospels in the play (p. 198-9). “On Shylock’s first meeting with Bassanio, his detestation of the Christians breaks out in the dactylic rhythm and harsh consonants of ’ to eat of…
In an appendix to his edition of The Merchant of Venice (The New Cambridge Shakespeare) (pp. 197-8) , M. M. Mahood explores Shakespeare’s use of the Bible in the play. He notes the extensive echoes of the Jacob narrative, some explicit some not so much. “Shakespeare is unlikely ever to…
Should we love God disinterestedly, without expectation or desire for return from Him, without any desire for happiness? It’s a common idea, but Milbank rightly argues against it. He asks “what constitutes God’s loveability”? His answer” “every charm, every attractive feature of anything whatsoever, radiates outwards, rendering things apprehensible and…
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