Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Optimism is “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.” 1 On the other hand, pessimism is “an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome.” We can see that optimism and…
If we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of…
“I chant slips and irreversible disasters, wiltings, failures, scars, the little disappointments and the large, blue streaks down a world that wishes it was only suncolors.” Paul J. Pastor from Kintsugi Song I recently lost something very valuable. Something I’d had for years and used every day. But, it wasn’t…
In his eponymous book, Jonah follows an exodus pattern. He travels through the waves and east of the city into the wilderness. On a first reading, it looks like another use of this common literary shape in the Old Testament: salvation through the waters of death and the wilderness of…
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” The unknowing master of ceremonies didn’t know how right he was. We see this play out in John’s apocalypse. The end is like the beginning,…
Read in isolation, The Test of Adultery (Num 5:11-31) presents the reader with a seemingly bizarre ritual, conjuring up ideas bordering on the Salem Witch Trials. Beyond this, pressing questions linger—such as, “Why is the woman in particular singled out, while no test is provided for the husband of a…
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A set of lecture notes for an upcoming lecture on the corporate character of worship. Some of this material has been posted previously on this site. INTRODUCTION Sometimes, Christians think that the transition from old to new is a transition from a corporate form of religion to a more individualistic…
Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Rhetoric: The Quest for Effective Communication (London: Blackwell, 2004), 206pp. Since the 1961 publication of his now-classic book, The Rhetoric of Fiction , Wayne Booth, an Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Chicago, has been one of the nation’s leading authorities on…
1 Corinthians 12:12-13: ?Even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or…
1 Kings 22:26-27: ?Then the king of Israel said, ?Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king?s son; and say, ?Thus says the king, ?Put this man in prison, and feed him the bread of affliction and the water of affliction…
1 Kings 22: Micaiah said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd, and the Lord said, these have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. Micaiah prophesies of Israel’s defeat at Ramoth-gilead, and of Ahab’s death. Ahab…
Micaiah is a prophet of Yahweh, the only prophet of Yahweh available to advise Ahab and Jehoshaphat as they plan to recover the city of Ramoth-gilead from the Arameans. As Ahab expects, Micaiah prophesies evil, warning that Ahab will die in battle and Israel will be left like sheep without…
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