Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
John the Baptist says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt. 3:11).” Much debate surrounds the nature of this statement and what exactly it prophesies. Sacramental, baptistic, and charismatic Christians…
First Corinthians is not considered one of the Pastoral Epistles, but there is much to learn from Paul about pastoring a congregation by the way he writes to the Corinthians. Briefly, 1 Corinthians is an exposition of the cross and resurrection. In the first fourteen chapters, Paul gives an exposition…
Fredrik Hagglund ( Isaiah 53 in the Light of Homecoming After Exile (Forschungen Zum Alten Testament) ) argues against the common notion that Isaiah 53 is about the atoning suffering of Yahweh’s Servant. The Servant’s suffering is vicarious (i.e., he suffers for the sins of others) but it is not…
With the inheritance of Canaan and the dividing up of this priestly territory among the tribes, Israel became a microcosm of the nations of the world. This division between Israel and the nations as a substitutionary “land and sea” would prevent another global rebellion, and thus another global judgment. ((For…
One of the more revealing aspects of Paul and James’ soteriology is the different ways they both use Genesis 15:6 (“And Abraham believed God and it was counted for him as righteousness,”) as a proof text to defend their comments about the gospel. The key observation to make is that…
The disintegration of the EU is not the end of the world. It is a sign that the end of the world is anything but nigh. Western culture as we know it is dying at the hands of usurpers, traitors and prodigals. Even the worst rulers throughout Christian history at…
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E sther Meek ( Longing to Know ) uses Magic Eye 3-D pictures to probe what it means to know. Following the instructions, you hold the picture to your face until you can see the picture past/through the surface details. For Meek, the process of seeing the dolphins in the…
T he Chronicler is a generous judge of Judah's kings. King Joash “did what was right” (2 Chronicles 24:2), even though he murders Zechariah the prophet, son of Joash's savior, Jehoiada (24:20–21). Amaziah “did right” (25:2), even though he worshiped Edomite gods for a time (25:14–15). Uzziah “did right” (26:4),…
H erbert Schlossberg recounts efforts at school and university reform following the religious revivals of the late 18th and early 19th centuries ( The Silence Revolution & the Making of Victorian England ). One of the factors that stymied reform was religious disunity. Tractarians resisted any educational system that didn't…
R ichard Oastler, advocate of the Ten Hours Bill to limit the work week, was a decided Tory, not because he wanted to preserve class privilege but because he believed that conservative policies benefitted the most vulnerable: A Tory is one who, believing that the institutions of this country are…
R .W. Dale was the most prominent orthodox Congregationalist pastor in late Victorian England. As Herb Schlossberg puts it, he “was dismayed by the decline of the old theology in favor of an easy-going God, who was not to be feared. He thought rather that fear was a legitimate part…
O rthodox theologian Pantelis Kalaitzidis ( Orthodoxy & Political Theology ) follows Erik Peterson's analysis in Monotheism as a Political Problem . Peterson critiques the “political Arianism” in patristic imperial apologists like Eusebius, a position that treats the emperor as an emanation from God, like the not-eternal Son. Peterson “suggests…
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