Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Some of the key ways Biblical writers draw attention to important details in their stories are by the use of key words, repetition, and structural devices like chiasms and parallel constructions. The Bible sounds different, even odd, to us sometimes because of the use of these and similar literary conventions.…
It is pretty standard in conservative Christian circles to condemn unbelief for pretensions of “autonomy.” Cornelius Van Til famously (at least among those of us who knows who he is) said that “There is no alternative but that of theonomy and autonomy.” Greg Bahnsen appealed to this quotation by labeling…
Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever taught — the Light of the World, whose pure Truth brought sight to the blind (John 9). Almost no one — even those who speak openly against Him — disputes His reputation as a wise and good teacher of the way of love.…
It is clear that the events in Esther are an integral part of the history of the formation of the Restoration Covenant Era. Amalek attacks. Amalek is spoiled. The spoils are used to build the Temple, in the sense that the crude Temple of Zerubbabel can now be glorified with…
It is not coincidental that John Calvin speaks most strongly in defense of vernacular language just after his defense of singing in church. "From this also it plainly appears that public prayers must be couched not in Greek among the Latins, nor in Latin among the French or English, as…
In A Voyage Around the World , George Anson recounts the effects of scurvy upon an unfortunate man: But a most extraordinary circumstance, and what would be scarcely credible upon any single evidence, is, that the scars of wounds which had been for many years healed, were forced open again…
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Christmas gifts should be an occasion for joy, but it’s not necessarily so. Gifts also produce discontent, envy, anger, resentment, and strife. You didn’t get what you wanted; someone else’s gift is bigger and better. And so on and on. In this season of giving, we need to remember the…
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13: There is nothing better than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor – it is the gift of God. Vapor of vapors, says the preacher. All is vapor. Ecclesiastes reminds us that…
This piece was originally published at the Credenda/Agenda web site in 2009. Being in a Grinchy mood and of a generally Grinchy disposition, I thought it worth re-presenting. Several years ago, when The Passion of the Christ was making headlines, I realized that N. T. Wright has spoiled every Jesus…
At the NYRB web site, Ian Johnson summarizes the changing relations between the Chinese government and the church. He ends with this account of the Huanan church: “A decade ago, authorities in China smashed one of the world’s biggest charismatic Christian churches, the 500,000-member South China (Huanan) Church, sending its…
There are more than two brands, but I’m restricting myself to two. On the one hand there are the careful, balanced assessments of some writer or a collection of writers. These aim to clarify the aims and actual opinions of thinkers of the past. They rebut misinterpretations and misconstruals. Descartes…
Self-help books are easy to mock. Too easy. But this one is too hard to resist. In 2008, Thomas Nelson put out Thank You Power: Making the Science of Gratitude Work for You by Deborah Norville. I have not read the book. From the Table of Contents, it looks to…
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