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

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Biblical Studies

The Art of Why

“We have a God who hides things because He loves to be sought out, chewed out and found out.” As Christians, we are rightly taught that we must not question God’s Word. The problem is that the Scriptures record many things which appear to have been given to us for…

by Mike BullMay 12, 2015
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Revelation

Eucharistic Harvest

The book of Revelation is a liturgy. John begins “in the Spirit” on the “Lord’s day” (1:10). Jesus appears, and Jesus tells him to record messages to seven churches, words of encouragement and rebuke, like the call to worship and confession at the beginning of a Christian liturgy. In chapter…

by Peter LeithartMay 7, 2015
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Creation

Maker of Heaven and Earth, (Part 5)

In my previous posts, I looked at the theme of creation as it is found in a sequence of psalms devoted to Yahweh’s Kingship (Psalms 93-100). Among other matters, these psalms declare that when the Kingdom of Israel’s God comes, it is the Kingdom of the world’s own Creator .…

by Stephen LongMay 7, 2015
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Deuteronomy

Paul the Levir

The church in Corinth was a pastoral nightmare. Factionalism, sexual immorality, incipient syncretism, using the church as a stage for self-promotion, and denial of the final resurrection were just some of the problems. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, he confronts each of these problems directly and in…

by Bill SmithMay 5, 2015
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Covenant

Covenant Structure in Genesis 2

The first chapters of the Word of God have a poetic rhythm. This is used to discredit their accuracy as historical narrative, but the truth is that these same rhythms continue far beyond the book of Genesis. In fact, the later texts shed light on the frustratingly succinct account of…

by Mike BullApril 30, 2015
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Creation

Must A Light Bulb Be "Oriented Toward Illumination"?

Mr. Martian: What’s that there? Mr. Edison: (Edison holds up a standard, 60 watt lightbulb). It’s a lightbulb. Mr. Martian: A “lightbulb” you say? What exactly is a “lightbulb”? Mr. Edison: A lightbulb is an object used to illuminate a dark area, say a room. It’s made primarily of filament…

by Gerald HiestandApril 28, 2015

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From Freedom to Fascism

Robert Kuttner's NYRB review of Gareth Dale's Karl Polanyi: A Life on the Left highlights Polanyi's relevance to contemporary global politics and economics. Kuttner observes that the "period between the two world wars, free-market liberals governing Britain, France, and the US tried to restore the pre–World War I laissez-faire system.…

January 5, 2018

Scattering and Gathering

The Chronicler gathers all Israel - indeed, a cross section of ancient humanity - on the opening pages of his chronicle. The genealogy is a great, inter-generational qahal (assembly), and the Chronicler is the Qoheleth, the Gatherer. As soon as his story starts, though, Israel is being dispersed. Israel flees…

January 4, 2018

Left Behind

In his forthcoming The Left Behind , Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow tries to penetrate past the headlines and stereotypes to discover the truth about, his subtitle has it, decline and rage in rural America. Wuthnow didn't drop into flyover country for a long weekend of hanging with local pundits at…

January 4, 2018

Conservatives on Globalization

James R. Rogers offers a useful taxonomy of contemporary conservative critiques of globalization. He defines globalization as "decreasing costs to capital and labor mobility. Mobility across, but also within, national borders." Alternatively, it could be defined as "the process of incorporating new regions of the world into a unified market…

January 3, 2018

Free Theocracy

In his Religious Philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov , Jonathan Sutton lays out Solovyov's (Solovyev; Soloviev) conception of "free theocracy." For Solovyov, "the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth is presented as an ordering of all aspects of life (individual and communal life) according to Christian principles. Furthermore, this…

January 2, 2018

Gentiles in Chronicles

In a contribution to The Chronicler as Author , Ehud Ben Zvi reviews five statements about Israel from foreigners in the book of Chronicles. The foreigners are Huram of Tyre, the Queen of Sheba, Sennacherib, Neco king of Egypt, and Cyrus the Persian. The first and last two are positive…

January 2, 2018

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