Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Mystical theologians are often unguarded, extreme, un-nuanced, pressing to the edges of heresy, sometimes beyond. Still, the mystics are worthy of study. Why? Many reasons. Unlike some late medieval and post-Reformation dogmaticians, mystical theologians are often instinctively and richly Trinitarian. Historical-critical approaches to Scripture left mystical theologians virtually untouched; mystics…
Portia of Belmont is a “lady richly left,” as Bassanio says of her in the first Act of The Merchant of Venice . Plus, she’s beautiful and wise. Suitors clamber to Belmont in hope. Her father knew it would be so, and in his will set up a fairy-tale test…
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In the nature of the case, “the” Christian meditation on Deuteronomy 14:1-21 cannot be written. Meditation offers too many possibilities, opens too many doors. There is not one and only one correct set of associations for a Christian to consider when thinking of Deuteronomy 14:1-21. We could, for example, consider…
Having retold the story of the cumulative sin of Israel leading to the great atonement on the cross, Paul then reemphasizes that, just as both Jew and Gentiles were locked into sin and judgment, now they are both justified by faith: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.…
Deuteronomy 14 is full of allusions to events of Israel’s history and other portions of Scripture. What would an Israelite learn by mediation on these allusions? The answer, I believe, is at least fourfold. Faith, Worship, War For the ancient Israelite first hearing Moses’ sermon, or perhaps hearing it read…
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D avid's plan for the temple is partly a floor plan. He gives Solomon the pattern for the “porch” and its associated buildings, treasuries, rooms, courts (1 Chronicles 28:11-12). The plan also includes instructions for organizing the priests and Levites (28:13a) and for the utensils of service for the temple…
I n his recently-published The Great Leveller , Walter Scheidel summarizes evidence from archeology and anthropological studies to answer the question, Has inequality always been with us? The answer is: Sort of yes. Inequality is a constant in societies that farm and herd. But farming and land ownership weren't the…
D avid gives Solomon the “plan” (Heb. tabnit ) for the temple. Unlike Moses, David doesn't have to climb a mountain to get it (cf. Exodus 25:9, 40). It comes from “the spirit ( ruach ) with him” (1 Chronicles 28:12), and from a “writing” from the Lord that comes…
I n an essay in the journal European Legacy , Norman Fiering summarizes the thought of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy on biography. Fiering asks whether there are recurring patterns in the lives of significant individuals, and, relying on Rosenstock-Huessy, calls attention to moments of “conversion” (not necessarily religious) and “grace” (unexpected encounters…
I n his 1971 study of Modernist architecture, The Golden City , Henry Hope Reed observed that Modernists transferred moral categories to architecture. Buildings could be “honest” (if they revealed their structure on the surface) or “false” (if they hid structure under ornamentation). Purity was invoked regularly as a positive…
W hat is “the Gothic”? Answers vary, and that is, Catherine Spooner argues (in Post-Millennial Gothic ), because Gothic bears “multivalent meanings” and “has adapted and changed with the times” (9–10). This isn't a recent development: “After Gothic's initial phase of popularity fizzled out around 1820, it quickly renewed itself…
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