Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Book of Genesis contains eleven distinct markers readily acknowledged as the toledot formula. 1 Commentator Nahum Sarna counts the ’elleh toledot to be “…one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Book of Genesis”. 2 Among translations, the noun is variously translated as “generations” (ESV, KJV), “records of the generations”…
The answer that immediately comes to mind to the question in the title is Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah. He was conceived during the extension of life that God granted Hezekiah in response to his ardent prayer on his sick bed (2 Kings 20:1-11, 21:1). His reign is summarized in…
Back in 2019, on a whim, I sketched out a setting for a modern fantasy story: a single coffee shop that is simultaneously present in multiple cities throughout the world: “...you know the one. Books by local authors, brochures for a walking tour of the city’s outdoor sculpture, a poetry…
Peter O’Brien’s translation of Colossians 4:2 surprised me: “Persevere in prayer as you watch for the Lord’s return, and be thankful.” 1 What is surprising about that? Well, none of my English translations mentioned “the Lord’s return” — nor does the Greek text! Translated literally, the verse just says: “In…
I Natural Law This is a brief (well, briefer than it could be) first attempt at responding to a very small section of Stephen Wolfe’s recent book The Case for Christian Nationalism . It’s partial, deeply incomplete, and does not at all address the book as a whole; it is…
The scuttlebutt of the last hundred years would tell us that Albert Einstein was a horrible husband, Winston Churchill was a racist, Mother Theresa was a hypocrite, and Caravaggio a murderer. From Benjamin Britten’s boys to Gandhi’s girls, it can be depressing and confusing to hear about people of great…
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Following the death of his first wife, Dostoevsky reflected on immortality, a meditation that led him into political musings on "socialism," religious and secular. His premise, exemplified in his own brutal treatment of his wife, is that Ego controls our lives. Christ's commands lay out the path toward fulfillment, but…
One of the key threads of Pecknold’s story (in Christianity and Politics ) is the “migration” of the Christian notion of the mystical body. Henri de Lubac first demonstrated that between patristic period and the high middle ages, the term had moved from the Eucharist to the church itself. Early…
At the beginning of Cur Deus Homo (p. 260), Anselm commends his work to Urban II. In the process, he both commends the Fathers of the church, and suggests that they did not answer every question. First, the commendation: "Many of our holy Fathers and teachers, following the Apostles, speak…
In an 1880 speech at the Pushkin Festival, Dostoevsky reflected on the destiny of Russia. The Westernizing reforms of Peter the Great didn't just introduce Western Engineering and fashion into Russia. Peter set the universal mission of the Russian people: "For what is the reform of Peter the Great to…
In The Limits of Power , Andrew Bacevich (a West Point graduate) has argued that we cannot disconnect our foreign policy from our “domestic dysfunction.” Bacevich notes that US foreign policy is driven by a belief in “liberty,” but liberty defined as abundance, the freedom to indulge our lust for…
The question here is not, Did Allah create? The question is, Is it conceivable that a god like Allah could create the world? Does it make any sense to say that an absolutely sovereign but Unitarian god created the universe? Our first reaction might be: Why not? If Allah is…
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