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Writing

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

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Culture

Why We Should Jettison the “Strong Female Character”: (Part 1)

The trailer for the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , was released last week. Following the success of the revival of the franchise in last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens , anticipation is unsurprisingly at a fever pitch. As in the case of The…

by Alastair RobertsMarch 6, 2018
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Epistemology

Seeking Integration in a Fragmented World: Integration Requires an Integrative Epistemology: Michael Polanyi

The word, “integration,” can sound abstract, technical, unhelpful. But as I represented it in my first installment on this matter , I take it instead to be the central desire of our lives. We long to integrate life, and to integrate ourselves. I offered as a preliminary definition, that integration…

by Esther Lightcap MeekMarch 1, 2018
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How to Worship

Worship as Ordination

Anyone who has read his Bible straight through has done it. Admit it. When you get to those parts in Exodus that deal with the instructions for and construction of the Tabernacle, your eyes glaze over and your mind begins to wander. Measurements, lists of materials, meticulous details about clothes…

by Bill SmithFebruary 27, 2018
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Biblical Theology

Bread and Cup

This article is a continuation of James Jordan's article, " From Bread to Wine ". We will here investigate the use of the word “cup” for the wine. I suggest that the cup itself corresponds to the firmament shell between heaven and earth, and that the liquid in the cup…

by James B. JordanFebruary 22, 2018
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Atonement

Streams in the Desert

And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered…

by Arthur KayFebruary 20, 2018
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Biblical Theology

From Bread to Wine

In the Bible, bread (and beer, usually translated “strong drink,” liquid bread made from grain) is priestly and wine is kingly and prophetic. Bread comes first and wine later. Bread is alpha food while wine is omega food. You eat bread in the morning and drink wine at night. Bread…

by James B. JordanFebruary 15, 2018

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Paul and Israel

N. T. Wright’s views on Paul and justification will be misconstrued if they are examined outside the context of his views on Israel’s history and Jesus’ role in that history. That is, Wright’s work is of a piece – his historical Jesus studies are essential to a proper understanding of…

April 17, 2007

Sanders and Bultmann

To understand EP Sanders’s “revolution” in Pauline studies, it’s helpful to look at Bultmann’s understanding of Paul, against which Sanders and others are explicitly and implicitly reacting. (I’m following the superb summary in Stephen Westerholm’s Perspectives Old and New on Paul.) Bultmann’s starting point is anthropological. As a creature, man…

April 17, 2007
Literature

Troubadours and courtly love

In his book, The Reign of Chivalry , Richard Barber gives a very fine summary of the courtly love tradition and the romantic tradition that it produced. I reproduce here only some of the main points of his discussion of the lyric love poetry of the troubadours. 1) Courtly love,…

April 17, 2007

Sermon Outline, Second Sunday after Easter

INTRODUCTION Matthew’s gospel is organized to show that Jesus is the True Israel, reliving Israel’s history faithfully. But Matthew also shows that Jesus is Israel’s God, who is rejected by His own people but triumphs over their rejection. THE TEXT “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son…

April 16, 2007

Literal and spiritual senses

Early in the Summa theologiae , Thomas defends the fourfold interpretation of the Old Testament Scripture by saying that the words of Scripture refer univocally to things, and that God providentially uses those things to signify later things. In this, he was anticipated by Hugh of St. Victor. In his…

April 11, 2007
Theology

Place of theology

Roch Kereszty asks why, if “Scriptural formulas are the most accurate and the best suited for expressing christological doctrine,” we need “theological speculation.” He answers that theology exists to clarify and explain the Bible: “Systematic theologians . . . will follow the direction given in the New Testament itself (that…

April 11, 2007

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