Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
That there is something wrong with the world is obvious. It does not take much time or brilliance to notice it. Once we get the feeling that we could imagine a better world, we are tempted to fix it or, if we cannot, to escape it. For both the world-fixers…
“Our Father in heaven,” what is man that we should be called your sons and daughters, beloved children of God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, Yahweh of Hosts, the Ancient of Days. You are not a father preoccupied with work or engrossed in your smartphone; you are a present…
The Son of God took on human flesh and entered into the sin and suffering of our world. His life and teaching and suffering from His conception to His suffering on the cross teaches us a lot about how the good news enters into the world. Recently, I was teaching…
There is an unspoken rule about typology that permeates Evangelical thinking. It goes something like this: “If the New Testament authors don’t use an Old Testament character as a type, we don’t either.” There is a soundness in this reasoning, at least in a preliminary sense. There is no better…
In The world of Silence, Max Picard writes, “There does not seem to be any space left where there could possibly have been anything but noise. We take it for granted much as we take the air itself for granted. Everything begins and ends with noise.” Is it fair to…
God is Not There God is not in the book of Esther. Do a word search and you will get 0 results. Also try Lord, Yahweh, Prayer, Temple, or Sacrifice. Even names with God’s name in them, like Elijah, Jeremiah, or Daniel are missing. The fool says in his heart,…
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Owen Cummings’s brief study of “the Eucharist across the ages and traditions” ( Eucharist & Ecumenism ) holds many surprises. There are some standard well-known texts - the Didache , Justin’s description of the Eucharistic service, The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus. But then Cummings collection goes rogue. He includes a…
Many have objected to the Trinity on the grounds of its mysteriousness. J.R. Illingworth ( The Doctrine of the Trinity [1907]) responds that natural theology is no less mysterious. Natural theology draws from “the material world and the mind of men,” but both “are baffling.” Nature is perplexing, and so…
A few recent scholars have attempted to enlist Jonathan Edwards on the side of social Trinitarianism, most prominently Amy Plantinga Pauw in her Supreme Harmony of All . Steven Studebaker isn’t buying it, and explains why in his Jonathan Edwards’ Social Augustinian Trinitarianism . Studebaker argues that social Trinitarianism depends…
Deists didn’t think revelation necessary. The original religion was natural religion, and the original natural religion was the best. Steven Studebaker ( Jonathan Edwards’ Social Augustinian Trinitarianism ) shows that one of the leading orthodox responses to this argument was the effort to show that “natural” religion was not natural…
When the four living creatures give glory to God, the 24 elders fall and prostrate themselves and sing of God’s worthiness as Creator. He is worthy to receive glory, honor, and power because “you created all things and through your will the were and are created” (Revelation 4:11). By this…
The merits of Christ play a prominent role in Protestant soteriology. William Perkins captures the basic argument: God accepts the elect and rewards them at the last day “not because works can merit: but by reason of God’s favor, who thus accepts works, and in respect of the merit of…
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