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

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Biblical Studies

Funerals and Flutes

Matthew 8-9 records three clusters of miracles, interspersed with snatches of Jesus’ teaching about various aspects of discipleship. Just as the Sermon on the Mount displays the authority of Jesus’ Word in teaching, these chapters display the authority of Jesus’ Word over sickness, uncleanness, the creation, demons, and death. In…

by Peter LeithartApril 17, 1992
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Baptism

Daddy, Why Was I Excommunicated?

Since the early 1980s, several of the conservative Reformed Churches have debated and wrestled with the issue of paedocommunion (infant communion). The PCA and the OPC assigned study committees to examine the question, both of which produced useful reports both in support of and against the position. Though the debate…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1992
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Biblical Chronology

Chronologies and Kings, Part 9: Jehu, Hazael, and Assyria

(This issue of Biblical Chronology concludes a discussion of the Biblical and Assyrian chronologies, begun in previous posts. Click on the category link of "Biblical Chronology" above to see previous issues. Did Shalmaneser Know Jehu? Allis writes: "The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser contains, in addition to brief accounts of the…

by James B. JordanMarch 23, 1992
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American Culture

Arts and Play, Part 4

Movies Movies as an art form have a powerful impact because they take place in a dark room, on a large screen, with no distractions, and because they entail many of the arts: music, acting, choreography, design and color, etc. A movie can be an overwhelming experience for a young…

by James B. JordanMarch 23, 1992
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Leviticus

The Ecology of the Tribute Offering

The Hebrew word translated as "grain offering" or "cereal offering" is minchah . Like the translation of `olah as "burnt offering," the translation of minchah as "grain offering" is somewhat deceiving, since minchah does not refer to grain or cereal. In liturgical contexts outside of Leviticus, in fact, the word…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1992
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Ascension

Skinned and Cut

"He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces" (Leviticus 1:6). The normal word ( `olah ) that is translated as "burnt offering" and "whole burnt offering" has nothing to do with either burning or wholeness. It is the noun form of a verb meaning "to…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1992

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In Thirds

When the angel blows the first trumpet, one-third of the land and one-third of the trees, along with all the grass, gets burned up by the fire coming from heaven (Revelation 8). It sets a trend. Throughout the trumpet section, things are destroyed by thirds. In part, this this is…

September 19, 2014

Give Peace A Chance

The editors of The Question of Peace in Modern Political Thought argue that peace has received more attention from philosophers than is often admitted, but they don’t think that it’s received nearly enough attention. Their collection aims to address that gap with essays on Luther, Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant,…

September 19, 2014

Smoky

After the Lamb ascends to heaven, the living creatures and elders suddenly have bowls ( phiale ) of incense (Revelation 5:8). The incense is identified with the “prayers of the saints.” They are like the leaders of the tribes in Numbers 7, each of whom brings, among other things, “one…

September 18, 2014

Judaism and Apocalypse

Paul gives a brief summary of his advancement in Judaism in Galatians 1:13-14, but the description is surrounded by references to an unveiling of Jesus: A. The gospel came not from man, 11-12a B. but by revelation ( apokalupsis ) of Jesus, 12b B. Former life in Judaism, 13a C.…

September 18, 2014

Wrestling the Angel

Terryl Givens’s forthcoming Wrestling the Angel is the first of a two-volume study of the foundations of Mormon theology and practice. Givens admits that Mormonism, for all its roots in Christian Scriptures, diverges “radically” from traditional Christianity, and he locates the difference in “a distinctive cosmology and metaphysics” which is…

September 18, 2014

In Praise of Darwin

Born into a pious Scottish family living in Canada in 1848, George Romanes might have been destined for ministry in the Church of Scotland. Reading Darwin upended his plans, and his early adulthood was marked by public disputes about science and faith, Romanes taking up the case for Darwin and…

September 18, 2014

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