Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
A couple of decades ago, when I was a young Reconstructionist (instead of a middle-aged post-Reconstructionist), I coined the phrase "political polytheism" to describe how modern evangelical Christians approach matters of social law and politics. Christians want the Bible for Church and family life, but turn to other gods for…
Gary North has from time to time taken note of some of the differences between contracts and covenants. For him, one of the most important is the oath-character of a covenant. Naturally, the English terms "contract" and "covenant" can be used with varying nuances by different writers, and their zone…
The Book of Chronicles is the last book in the Hebrew Canon of the Old Testament. The word "canon" means "authoritative list" when used in connection with the Bible. What we call the Hebrew Canon consists of 24 books arranged in three major divisions: the Law, the Prophets, and the…
by: Peter Leithart and James Jordan The Book of Kings is structured chiastically, or concentrically. To see this clearly, we start in the middle and work our way outward. 2 Kings 3–7 record the central events of the ministry of Elisha. Elisha makes his first appearance in 1 Kings 19:19-21,…
(The following is a supplement to my book, God’s War Against Humanism , a study of the book of Judges, available from Biblical Horizons for $20.00 – a photocopy of the original book, which is now out of print). The turning point in the book of Judges is 8:22-28. Here…
From time to time I am asked how I think the Lord’s Supper should be done. This essay is my response to that question. To start with, we should agree that the Lord’s Supper is the only ritual we are obligated to do in the New Covenant on a routine…
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I magine, Peter Harrison suggests at the beginning of The Territories of Science and Religion , a historian who claimed to have discovered evidence of a war between Israel and Egypt that took place in 1600 AD. We’d be justifiably skeptical, and the evidence could be refuted with a swipe…
I t’s a truism of Old Testament studies that “poverty” in the Bible isn’t merely an economic condition. To be poor is not only to lack property and tangible wealth. It connotes deprivation in a wider sense. Psalm 10 illustrates the point. The wicked who does not believe in God…
B efore Joshua begins the battle at Jericho, he encounters “a man” with a sword who identifies himself as “the captain of the host of Yahweh” (Joshua 5:13-15). It’s a familiar scene, echoing the moment when Abraham encountered three men at his tent (Genesis 18:2). Abraham “lifted up his eyes…
A llison Benedikt doesn’t know me, but she thinks I’m a bad person. Not “ murderer bad,” mind you. Just “ruining-one-of-our-nation’s-most-essential-institutions-in-order-to-get-what’s-best-for-your-kid” bad. That kind of bad, which is “pretty bad.” I’m a bad person because I’ve never sent my kids to public school. My wife and I home-schooled all of…
S ince at least the early 20th century, commentators have claimed that the messages to the seven churches in Revelation 2–3 are packed with local allusions that the recipients would have recognized (see, for instance, W.M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches ). Craig Koester ( Revelation ) doesn’t…
I n The Clash of Gods (6-8), Thomas Mathewes describes the “staggering” revolution that took place in late antiquity when Christianity overthrew pagan art: In effect, a highly nuanced visual language that had been developed over the course of a thousand years to express man's sense of cosmic order, to…
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