Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Optimism is “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.” 1 On the other hand, pessimism is “an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome.” We can see that optimism and…
If we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of…
“I chant slips and irreversible disasters, wiltings, failures, scars, the little disappointments and the large, blue streaks down a world that wishes it was only suncolors.” Paul J. Pastor from Kintsugi Song I recently lost something very valuable. Something I’d had for years and used every day. But, it wasn’t…
In his eponymous book, Jonah follows an exodus pattern. He travels through the waves and east of the city into the wilderness. On a first reading, it looks like another use of this common literary shape in the Old Testament: salvation through the waters of death and the wilderness of…
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” The unknowing master of ceremonies didn’t know how right he was. We see this play out in John’s apocalypse. The end is like the beginning,…
Read in isolation, The Test of Adultery (Num 5:11-31) presents the reader with a seemingly bizarre ritual, conjuring up ideas bordering on the Salem Witch Trials. Beyond this, pressing questions linger—such as, “Why is the woman in particular singled out, while no test is provided for the husband of a…
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Colossians 2:3 As Joshua pointed out this morning, Solomon calls us to search for wisdom as for hidden treasures. Wisdom is available, open, offering herself and her food on the streets of the city; but to get wisdom, you can?t be a dabbler. You have to pursue her, court her,…
Should Christians vote in this year?s Presidential election? The question is a reasonable one. All of the candidates have glaring flaws, and the candidates that you find most agreeable have no chance at all to win the election. Your vote seems to make no difference, and with no good choices…
John Murray recognizes that Paul announces a ?deliverdict?Ein Romans 8:1-4. He is considering the force of ?therefore?Ein 8:1, asking what earlier portion of Romans this points to: ?If the apostle is thinking merely of freedom from the guilt of sin and from the condemnation which guilt entails, then we should…
John Murray recognizes that Paul announces a ?deliverdict?Ein Romans 8:1-4. He is considering the force of ?therefore?Ein 8:1, asking what earlier portion of Romans this points to: ?If the apostle is thinking merely of freedom from the guilt of sin and from the condemnation which guilt entails, then we should…
Thomas Weinandy?s 1995 The Father?s Spirit of Sonship makes an important contribution to Trinitarian theology. Weinandy?s distinctive contribution is to reconceive the place of the Spirit in the Triune life. This small book has many virtues. Weinandy gives an extensive and compelling biblical argument for his position, and he sees…
Trevor Hart has a helpful article on Barth?s view of revelation in the Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth . First, Hart sketches the neo-Kantian philosophical and theological context for Barth?s work. For Barth, nineteenth-century ?consciousness theology,?Ethe attempt to ground theology in some feature of human experience or knowledge, was a…
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