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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Food

Gluttony In The Bible (As Opposed To Gluttony In The American Church)

In the Bible, fatness is such a blessing, that it is especially hard to understand why wicked men are permitted to enjoy such a state. It requires a theodicy and faith in God. Thus: “For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek . They are…

by Mark HorneAugust 12, 2013
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How to Worship

Biblical Worship (Video with James B. Jordan)

[fve]http://vimeo.com/71901553[/fve]

by Peter LeithartAugust 8, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Holy Things for Holy People

The allusion to the Exodus story is contained in the first words of Deuteronomy 14:1 — “ye are the sons of Yahweh your God” — as well as in 14:2 in the use of the technical term translated “treasured possession,” “His own possession,” “peculiar people,” “precious people,” and so forth.…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 5, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Forbidden Foods

I have argued that Deuteronomy 14:1-21 is an independent literary unit that applies the Third Word to the lives of Israelites from the time of Moses and Joshua. In this short pericope, Moses suggests broad and deep meaning by means of literary allusion to the stories of the creation and…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 31, 2013
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How to Worship

Pro-Sacramental Reformation

In his recently republished The New Creation , the late, delightful Herbert McCabe defends the priesthood of the plebs as roundly as anyone could want. Citing Hebrews, he claims that "there is an essential difference between the Christian community and the community of the Old Law, or any other religious…

by Peter LeithartJuly 29, 2013
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Augustine

Sexual Idolatry

Augustine famously prayed, “Our hearts our restless until they rest in You.” True indeed. Being creatures, we inherently sense our ontological poverty—our innate condition of dependence—and are compelled to find a sense of security. And it is also true—as Augustine’s own narrative painfully illustrates—that one of the things we most…

by Gerald HiestandJuly 24, 2013

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Come to the Feast

Joseph Mangina ( Revelation , 248) summarizes David Barr's ( Tales of the End ) analysis of the parallels between Revelation 22 and the Didache 's depiction of early Christian Eucharist: “both Rev. 22 and the Didache (a) allude to Jesus's descent from David, (b) draw a sharp distinction between…

January 7, 2016
Empire

Unfinished Empire

“‘Empire’ is a grand word,” write John Darwin at the beginning of his Unfinished Empire . On the ground, the reality of empire is “a mass of individuals, a network of lobbies, a mountain of hopes: for careers, fortunes, religious salvation or just physical safety. Empires were not made by…

January 7, 2016

Premillennial Time

Premillennialism - the view that Jesus returns to reign in person at the beginning of a literal one-thousand-year golden age - is often criticized these days for being defeatist, spiritualist, gnostic. It was not always so. As Martin Spence shows in his excellent Heaven on Earth , early critics of…

January 7, 2016

Do Not

Four times in Revelation, John is directly told not to do something. When he falls at the feet of Jesus, Jesus touches him with his right hand and says, “Do not fear” (1:17; Gr. me phobou ). When no one in heaven, earth, or under earth can be found to…

January 6, 2016
Empire

The Missionaries and the Empire

Responding to Eugene McCarraher, John Milbank gives a brief overview of the complex interactions of European imperial powers, the church, and the colonized. Contrary to some popular opinion, “Missionaries were often opponents of military, economic and settler empire as has now been abundantly shown by historians. In a parallel fashion,…

January 6, 2016
Music

The Great American Symphony

When Dvorak's New World Symphony debuted in New York, it was hailed as a masterpiece, the American symphony that American composers had tried, and failed, to produce. Which American composers would those be? Douglas Shadle's Orchestrating the Nation answers the question. It's a question contemporary symphony-goers need answered too. As…

January 6, 2016

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