Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Because of sin, the arts sometimes do not serve to glorify but to debase. Sinful men make their environments ugly, and create ugly art to “enhance” their ugly words. But since all men are still God’s images, no men are able to live with such ugliness all the time. Thus,…
Arts and literature reviews in most evangelical Christian publications generally approach their subjects in terms of ideology. We are told whether or not the film or book is acceptable in terms of morals, sexual graphicness, and theological accuracy. While there is definitely a place for such reviews, I fear that…
We speak of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The early Church tended to speak of Him as Father, Word, and Spirit. In this short essay, I want to suggest some other ways to think of the Trinity, ways that I have found pastorally helpful in my own life…
I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and guard My commandments (Ex. 20:5-6). The Second Word forbids acts of ceremonial…
8. The Table of Nations If we assume births every two years, and about 30 years between generations (cp. Gen. 11:12-24), we can come up with an approximate series of dates for the generations recorded in Genesis 10. We shall assume that all three of Noah’s sons had their firstborn…
Zechariah’s first prophecy (Zech. 1:1-6) was delivered in the eighth month of the second year of Darius. The notation of this date serves a number of purposes. Most obviously, it relates Zechariah’s prophecies to those of Haggai. By the time Zechariah delivered his first prophecy, Haggai had already chided the…
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There’s some intriguing cross-fertilization going on between the two sabbath healings in Luke 13-14. In 13, Jesus heals the woman who has been bent double for 18 years, and in ch 14 Jesus heals a man with dropsy. In both, the healing is scrutinized critically by the Pharisees, and Jesus…
Another insight from Sourvinou-Inwood: After offering a reconstruction of the development of tragedy from the hymns of the TRAGODOI through “prototragedy” (which introduced mimetic elements), she gives a brief review of the development of comedy. At the end, she contrasts the two both as regards their ritual contexts and their…
Discussing the religious origins of Athenian tragedy in her recent Tragedy and Athenian Religion , Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood first examines the early forms of the festival of the City Dionysia. She points out that “tragedy” comes from tragos , a male goat, and that the first hints of tragedy arise in…
Also in the Nov 2003 IJST is the first installment of Robert Jenson’s Maurice Lectures (University of London), entitled “Christ as Culture.” Among other things, Jenson criticizes HR Niebuhr’s framing of the issue as “Christ and culture” by noting that “Christ” (Messiah) is meaningful within an already-existing culture, that of…
Nicholas Healy has a useful article on the notion of “practice” in recent ecclesiology in the Nov 2003 issue of the International Journal of Systematic Theology . He begins by distinguishing two trends within recent ecclesiology, both of which focus on the church’s practices. The first, which he associates with…
Nicholas Healy has a useful article on the notion of “practice” in recent ecclesiology in the Nov 2003 issue of the International Journal of Systematic Theology . He begins by distinguishing two trends within recent ecclesiology, both of which focus on the church’s practices. The first, which he associates with…
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