Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
For many people Christmas comes on December 25 and is over December 26. The tree is taken down along with the lights and the other decorations, and everyone begins setting the house in order for the new year. No more Christmas hymns. No more celebrations (well, until New Year’s Eve).…
The Ascension and the Incarnation should not be disconnected in our Christmas thinking or celebrations. As N.T. Wright notes, the ascension is "a central and vital feature without which all sorts of other things start to go demonstrably wrong. . . . where the ascension has been ignored or misunderstood,…
“In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness.” Thus John describes the incarnation of the Son. He comes as the living and life-giving light of the world. That’s good news. In the beginning, God spoke and light shone…
Christmas is all about Jesus. The angels announce Jesus’ birth, shepherds and wise men come to see Jesus, Herod wants to kill Jesus. We occasionally think of the Father who sent the Son, but we keep returning to the Son made flesh in Bethlehem’s manger. Meanwhile, as always, the Spirit…
Christmas is about many things, but one of the chief things revealed in the gospel of Christmas is the humility of God. We don't often think of humility as an attribute of God. If God is glorious and exalted, we think, He must be haughty and proud and self-centered. We…
John famously begins his Gospel with a piece of theology: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Matthew starts with a genealogy. John celebrates Advent with a hymn, Matthew with a list. For John, Jesus is the Word of creation…
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T urkey's Muslims have used the failed coup attempt last month as an excuse to attack churches. According to a report by Marco Giannengeli in the Express , on the night of the coup “Muslim Sunnis, whipped up to a frenzy, targeted Turkey’s Christian community. In Matalya, a sprawling city…
R achel Aviv's New Yorker profile of philosopher Martha Nussbaum was shadowed by irony. Entitled “The Philosopher of Feelings,” the article described Nussbaum's work on the philosophy of emotions and her advocacy of human vulnerability. Philosophy itself can provide a protective shield against luck or unluck, and she has studied…
E veryone acknowledges that economic growth has stagnated for the past half-century by comparison with the previous century. Robert Gordon ( Rise and Fall of American Growth ) argues that the stagnation is more or less permanent, and the growth of the world economy between 1870 and 1970 is unrepeatable.…
A ccording to the Protestant doctrine of imputation, Christ’s righteousness is reckoned as righteousness to those who believe. Typically, this creates a double identity: Though we are in ourselves guilty sinners, God sees us in Christ, and therefore regards us and treats us as righteous. It is often objected that…
T he title of Francois Mauriac's 1932 novel, Vipers' Tangle (French, Le Nœud de vipères , The Knot of Vipers ) evokes Jesus' assault on the Pharisees as a “brood of vipers,” spawn of the serpent. It's a fitting allusion, since the novel, mostly an autobiographical epistle written by the…
D avid meets Goliath with a stick, a sling and five stones. We're told that the stones are “smooth” and that he took them from the brook (1 Samuel 17:40). Why are we told this? When Israel first entered the land, they set stones in the midst of the Jordan…
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