Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
We've all heard it, too often to count. The Apostle Paul was a misgynistic homophobic pro-slavery authoritarian, probably a repressed homosexual himself, the first Puritan - Puritan here defined as "someone who cannot sleep if someone in the world is having fun." To call this a caricature is too generous.…
Some of our forefathers believed in reading/singing the psalms in order. Today, when the psalms are even used at all, they tend to be used randomly, though sometimes tied to a church calendar or to the pastor’s sermon. The Bible does not bind us to any particular practice, but there…
". . . and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). Paul’s passing comment about the rock that followed the Israelites in the wilderness has often been treated as a bit of…
The story of Hezekiah’s illness and recovery is familiar to every child who has attended Sunday School. Informed that he would die, faithful King Hezekiah pleaded in tears for a longer life. God heard his prayers and saw his tears, and promised fifteen more years. As a sign that He…
When viewed as an allegory of biblical history, the controversial third act of Danny Boyle’s gripping sci-fi adventure is transformed from an illogical divergence into a blinding revelation. The following analysis contains spoilers for the movie “Sunshine.” The Creation Week is the elementary type that orders everything God has said…
In my last post , I told you the story of my current desire to understand philosopher D.C. Schindler’s metaphysical work. With this post, I start in to the venture. I begin by reflecting on what it is to be a thing. This matter always makes me laugh, and makes…
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Why do we baptize babies? This seems to many Christians, especially in America, like a strange tradition, a leftover of the formalism and nominal Christianity of the medieval Roman Catholic church. And even to many of us who believe we should baptize our babies, it seems like a somewhat extraneous…
Suppose I told you that Trinity Reformed Church had been asked to perform a choir concert this morning? Would you be prepared? Or would it be like one of those dreams where you find yourself taking a test without studying, or realizing suddenly that you?ve arrived at church in your…
CONTRASTING MINDSETS, Romans 8:5-13 Paul has announced that through the work of Father, Son and Spirit, we who are in Christ have been set free from Sin and Death, and are now capable of keeping the requirement of the Law. Torah aimed at giving life; but that purpose cannot not…
In the Spring issue of the American Scholar, William Deresiewicz discusses the sexualization of dance during the twelve years he write dance criticism for various publications: “For one thing, dancers have been wearing less and less. Sometimes they don’t wear anythng at all, though this nudity or semi-nudity almost never…
Notes on Thomas Aquinas on The Effects of Grace, ST I-II, q. 113. 1) Article 1: Justification of the ungodly consists in the remission of sins, Aquinas argues, over against the claim that justification must involve some movement toward justice and that the remission of sins is not a movement.…
Some notes on Augustine?s Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter . 1) Augustine treats ?letter?Ein 2 Corinthians as a reference to the law itself, which kills. The law kills, however, in the absence of the Spirit: ?the letter of the law, which teaches us not to commit sin, kills,…
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