Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
After 9 chapters of genealogy, the Chronicler begins his history with the death of Saul and the rise of David. The latter part of 1 Chronicles 12 describes the assembly of warriors from the twelve tribes to Hebron to celebrate David’s coronation as king. They have a three-day feast, with…
In the introduction we saw that Matthew and Luke are the only gospels which include “fire” in John the Baptist's narrative. If Matthew and Luke are the priestly and prophetic gospels, the inclusion of fire is of great importance. Priests are servants of the altar, working with fire every day.…
The feet of the great statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream cannot be interpreted as a prediction of the states of modern Europe, but the lessons from their failure can certainly be applied . The statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream spoke of God’s ordaining of four empires which would rule in succession throughout…
This past Sunday afternoon, I drove just a few miles west of my neighborhood to visit the corner of Sherman Blvd. and Burleigh St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Amid a crowd I stood, looking at a huge gas station and multiple vehicles, all completely destroyed. Hundreds of feet of yellow caution…
1 Chronicles 12 is a flashback. The Chronicler has told the story of Saul’s death at the battle of Mount Gilboa. He has described how “all Israel” gathered to David at Hebron to make him king over all Israel (11:1-3). At the beginning of chapter 12, we move back to…
A great story draws you into specific details while delivering an ending that keeps you coming back. It brings you into the minutiae of life in such a way that requires patience, only to deliver a breath of fresh air time and again. The climax of the biblical story comes…
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Julian Young offers a neat summary of the Arthur Schopenhauer (the "first European Buddhist") at the TLS . Schopenhauer's philosophy can be pinpointed by contrast with two better-known thinkers. Against Hegel's fantastic " Bildungsroman , a story of the ever-increasing realization of 'reason' in human affairs," Schopenhauer offered a thoroughgoing,…
"How is it possible," asks Terry Teachout , "that a man who made his conducting debut when Grover Cleveland was president should still be sufficiently well known and revered that most of his recordings remain in print to this day?" Teachout thinks that Harvey Sachs's Toscanini: Musician of Conscience comes…
The first published book of Jorge Luis Borges, the great Argentinian poet and short-story writer, was Fervor de Buenos Aires . Borges later wrote, “ Fervor de Buenos Aires foreshadows everything I would do afterward.” It was a slapdash production, Borges claimed in his autobiography: “The book was actually printed…
John Colmer observes in his study of E.M. Forster that Forster's novels transpose Christian terms into a secular key: "a whole set of religious terms - salvation, grace, conversion, transfiguration - become assimilated into an essentially secular vision. . . . Men now seek their happiness on this earth not…
Richard Florida's 2002 Rise of the Creative Class was a manifesto for urban hipness. As Joseph Bottum sums up the book , Florida argued that "cities thrive when these creative types are allowed to build the creative economy. Their tolerance for alternative lifestyles and their acceptance of unconventional housing broke…
"Medieval tolerance" sounds like an oxymoron. Everyone knows the medievals were in tolerant. Everyone knows that tolerance was invented in the modern world. Everyone who knows such things is wrong. Istvan Bejczy demonstrates in a 1997 essay that medieval thinkers had a well-developed concept of tolerance. He goes further than…
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