Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
It seems to be old news, but I was unaware of it until recently. Australian academics argued that mothers should be allowed to terminate the life of a newborn child. [i] Why would they promote such an idea? Because before the child is born it is not always possible to…
This is the second of two essays introducing Pascal’s Wager. Click HERE for Part 1. In “The Pop Star and the Mathematician” I gave an overview of the apologetic approach commonly called Pascal’s Wager. In that Wager, 17 th -century French mathematician Blaise Pascal argued that the choice between Christian…
This is the first of two essays aiming to introduce the reader to Pascal’s Wager. The second will address criticisms of the Wager. In the early 1990s, a perennially popular British pop star was interviewed on British television about his very public evangelical Christian faith. “What if,” the reporter asked…
Matthew 13 is about secrets. In this chapter, Jesus teaches eight parables and tells the disciples that they reveal the secrets of the kingdom (13:11). And much like Samson who both tells riddles and is himself a riddle that the reader must solve, so Jesus not only tells secrets but…
Click HERE for part One. THE TEXT AS TABERNACLE Creation – Initiation – Genesis (1 Samuel 17:1-11) The gathered armies not only remind the reader of Ebal and Gerizim, but also of the very reason that Israel was established (Creation) , set apart from the other nations by the circumcision…
What to do with Job’s Final “Friend,” Elihu Elihu is a strange character, at least in the sense of how and where he appears in the book of Job. Why does he not appear with the other three “friends?” Does his argument differ from any of the first three who…
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Uriah Y Kim reviews my Kings commentary in a recent issue of Reviews in Religion and Theology . He’s got some criticisms, but overall it’s a fair review. A couple of responses on specific points: 1) He thinks my contention that there is a “seventh-king” pattern is suspect; my counting…
Richard Saller defines patronage by three features (summarized by Griffin): “(1) it involves the reciprocal exchange of goods and services; (2) that it is a personal relationship of some duration; (3) that it is asymmetrical, in the sense that the two parties are of unequal status and offer different kinds…
Griffin begins her essay: “The exchange of beneficia - gifts and services - was an important feature of Greek and Roman society at all periods. Its prominence was reflected in the number of philosophical works that analyzed the phenomenon. From the fourth century B.C. onwards, euergesia and charis became subjects…
Miriam Griffin has a richly detailed discussion of Seneca’s de Beneficiis in a 2003 issue of The Journal of Roman Studies . The article discusses the appropriateness of “patronage system” as a description of Roman social relations, Seneca’s use of exaggeration for moral effect, the and similarities between Seneca and…
Seneca found Chrysippus’s treatment of the Three Graces too subtle: He was a great man but “a Greek, whose intellect, too sharply pointed, is often bent and turned back upon itself; even when it seems to be in earnest it only pricks, but does not pierce.” Seneca himself found in…
In his Lectures on Ethics, Kant says that ingratitude is among the vices that “are the essence of vileness and wickedness.” He adds, “It is inhuman to hate and persecute one from whom we have reaped a benefit, and if such conduct were the rule it would cause untold harm.…
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