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Writing

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

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Culture

Why We Should Jettison the “Strong Female Character”: (Part 1)

The trailer for the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , was released last week. Following the success of the revival of the franchise in last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens , anticipation is unsurprisingly at a fever pitch. As in the case of The…

by Alastair RobertsMarch 6, 2018
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Epistemology

Seeking Integration in a Fragmented World: Integration Requires an Integrative Epistemology: Michael Polanyi

The word, “integration,” can sound abstract, technical, unhelpful. But as I represented it in my first installment on this matter , I take it instead to be the central desire of our lives. We long to integrate life, and to integrate ourselves. I offered as a preliminary definition, that integration…

by Esther Lightcap MeekMarch 1, 2018
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How to Worship

Worship as Ordination

Anyone who has read his Bible straight through has done it. Admit it. When you get to those parts in Exodus that deal with the instructions for and construction of the Tabernacle, your eyes glaze over and your mind begins to wander. Measurements, lists of materials, meticulous details about clothes…

by Bill SmithFebruary 27, 2018
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Biblical Theology

Bread and Cup

This article is a continuation of James Jordan's article, " From Bread to Wine ". We will here investigate the use of the word “cup” for the wine. I suggest that the cup itself corresponds to the firmament shell between heaven and earth, and that the liquid in the cup…

by James B. JordanFebruary 22, 2018
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Atonement

Streams in the Desert

And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered…

by Arthur KayFebruary 20, 2018
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Biblical Theology

From Bread to Wine

In the Bible, bread (and beer, usually translated “strong drink,” liquid bread made from grain) is priestly and wine is kingly and prophetic. Bread comes first and wine later. Bread is alpha food while wine is omega food. You eat bread in the morning and drink wine at night. Bread…

by James B. JordanFebruary 15, 2018

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American Religion

Religious Establishments

In a 1999 article in the Journal of Church and State , John Witte, Jr. offers a neat typology of forms of religious establishment. “Institutional” establishment involved the diversion of tax funds to support the clergy and religious activity. This form of establishment existed in a number of states into…

November 13, 2012
History

Illegal Potlatch

In his Symbols: Public and Private (Symbol, Myth & Ritual) (387), Raymond Firth mentions an English case that illustrates the constriction of giving in modern societies: “A record of an English laws case some twenty years ago notes a challenge to a man’s legacy of 1000 pounds to the vicar…

November 12, 2012
Economics

Capitalism and its Contradictions

A friend asked me to clarify some comments I made about capitalism in my First Things piece last Friday. Thinking there may be wider interest in the question, I offer a revised version of my answer to him. As a starting point, let me clarify that the term “capitalism” here…

November 12, 2012

Over the Rainbow

The New York Review of Books review of Daniel Mendelsohn’s Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays from the Classics to Pop Culture (New York Review Collections) , the reviewer summarizes Mendelsohn’s comparison of Avatar and Wizard of Oz . Dorothy awakens at the end, Mendelsohn writes, “with all that she has…

November 12, 2012
Uncategorized

Whizzing culture

An essay at the San Francisco Egotist describes technologically-driven changes in advertising. What used to be a process of days or a week is not a process of hours. The shift is not, the author points out, confined to advertising: “Our technology whizzes along at the velocity of a speeding…

November 12, 2012

Eucharistic meditation

John 1: The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Moses ascended Mount Sinai and entered Yahweh’s cloud, and when he came out his face radiated the glory of the cloud.…

November 11, 2012

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