Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
To begin with the source of this narrative: Since no human being was present to observe these events, we must assume that this narrative was revealed directly by God to a human author. There are three ways this might have happened. First, we might read, "God said to Abraham (or…
The Empire Strikes Back is a movie most of us have seen more than once. It is generally regarded as the best of the three Star Wars films, which is probably due to the fact that unlike the other two, The Empire Strikes Back made use of the services of…
Now that we have examined three unacceptable approaches to the events recorded in Genesis 1, it is only fair for me to set out what does seem to be recorded there. To begin with the source of this narrative: Since no human being was present to observe these events, we…
Two books on the "Bible Code" have appeared this year. The first, a current bestseller, is Michael Drosnin’s The Bible Code (Drosnin, 1997). The other is Cracking the Bible Code (William Morrow, 1997), by Jeffrey Satinover, known to Christians for his outstanding 1996 book Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth…
Part 1: Introduction The collapse of the Western tradition in the United States, seen in the hostility to Christianity in government and education, and the elimination of "traditional" or "canon" learning from our institutions of middle and higher learning, provides a crisis and an opportunity for serious believers at the…
A Brief Defense of John Murray’s “the Free Offer of the Gospel,” & A Question About the Extent of the Atonement John Murray (1898-1975) is probably the last of the great American theologians; he belonged in the same set as that which contains such eminent Presbyterians as Charles Hodge and…
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Paul appeals to the Galatians to “become as I, because I also as you” (4:12). In what respect are they to become like Paul? In what respect did Paul become as they? Paul immediately follows with: “you know that through a weakness of flesh I preached to you at first”…
Max Boot defines terrorism as “the use of violence by nonstate actors directed primarily against noncombatants . . . in order to intimidate or coerce them and change their government’s policies or composition” ( Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present ). So…
Josephus is known mainly as a historian of ancient Judaism and the Jewish war. Frederic Raphael’s lucid A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus pays more attention to the life than the work, and presents Josephus as archetype as well as man: “The attachment, in midlife,…
Anselm is commonly charged with portraying the Father as a sadistic child-abuser who demands a death from His innocent Son. In a 2009 article in The Saint Anselm Journal , Daniel Shannon argues that Anselm says no such thing, and that in fact “God did not compel the innocent to…
The Reformers are often charged with diminishing the potency of baptism. The opposite is the case. George Huntston Williams (article in Church History , 1957) notes the gradual “depression and routinization of baptism” in the early medieval period, a process that he says was nearly complete by the 11th century.…
In an old (1957) Church History article, George Huntston Williams explored the sacramental background to various atonement theories. Patristic theories ( Christus Victor in its various forms) he associates with baptism; Anselm with penitence and Eucharist. Along the way he notes that Athanasius speaks of baptismal appropriation of the work…
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