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

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American Culture

The Affections of Asbury

Over the past few days, quite the event has developed at Asbury University down in Wilmore, Kentucky. University students have appeared at the Hughes Auditorium to worship and sing praises to God, which has continued for over 90 hours at the time of this writing. There is recent reporting that…

by Charles JacobiFebruary 16, 2023
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Apostle Paul

Paul and Nero

It is well-enough known that Nero was emperor from AD 54 when he was just 16 until his death as a young man of 30 in AD 68, just 14 years later. Paul ministered during most of those 14 years (we are not sure which year he died), accomplishing 3…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 14, 2023
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Apostle Paul

For Me to Live is Christ!

When the apostle Paul says, “For me to live is Christ!” (Philippians 1:21), we do not find it difficult to understand. Paul had been a faithful servant of Christ from the time that Christ confronted him on the road to Damascus (AD 30) and through Ananias told Paul that he…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 9, 2023
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Song of Songs

Bridal Song

I think there’s a layer to the Song of Songs which has been largely unexamined. The Song is about Christ and his church, Yahweh and Israel, the nature of the marriage covenant, and the marriage of the couple in the Song. But while the Song is “of Solomon” (or to…

by Daniel StanleyFebruary 8, 2023
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Biblical Studies

Paul and the Praetorian Guard

In Philippians 1:12-13, Paul informs his beloved brothers in Philippi that his Roman imprisonment — which one would naturally think hindered his ministry and the preaching of the Gospel — actually resulted in the surprising and wonderful progress of the Gospel. Of course, from our perspective 2000 years later and…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 2, 2023
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Biblical Theology

Abraham’s Seed: Heavens, Earth, and Sea Made New

In a recent post , I explored the threefold order of creation—heavens, earth, and sea—and suggested that in Genesis 1 God stamps heaven’s order, his own threefold nature, on the creation, giving earth a trinitarian shape. So what happens to the three-level architecture of creation after Genesis 1? We don’t…

by Josh JensenFebruary 1, 2023

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Uncategorized

Liberal Institutions?

A passage from Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits, Revised Edition pinpoints the internal tensions of liberal order. Nietzsche writes, “If there are to be institutions there must be a kind of will, instinct, imperative, anti-liberal to the point of malice: the will to tradition, to authority,…

November 1, 2012

Mechanical man

Descartes is accused of proposing that the human soul is a “ghost in the machine.” Does he think of the body mechanistically? It’s true that he speaks of “our body’s machine” that operates in large measure “unaided” ( The Passions of the Soul: An English Translation of Les Passions De…

November 1, 2012

Trinity Institute: William Cavanaugh Says

Peter Leithart is one of the most creative and provocative theological writers today. He manages to combine sound critical scholarship with accessible writing and a flair for the dramatic. Who else would think of defending the Emperor Constantine against his legions of critics today? Leithart does so not just to…

October 31, 2012

Skilled seeing

Shapin again ( The Scientific Revolution (science.culture) , 72-73): He offers a fascinating description of the challenges of persuasion in early modern science. Galileo claimed that his telescope proved there were moons around Jupiter. Many of those who looked through his device didn’t see what he saw. Some refused to…

October 31, 2012

Sociology of science

Debates among historians about the relative weight of “intellectual” and “social” factors seem “rather silly” to Steven Shapin. What’s needed, he argues in The Scientific Revolution (science.culture) is a sociology of scientific knowledge “to display knowledge making and knowledge holding as social processes” (p. 9). He thinks too that the…

October 31, 2012

A Son in Glory

My pastoral colleague, Toby Sumpter, has just come out with a wonderful commentary on Job, Job Through New Eyes: A Son for Glory . I am biased in favor of my friend, but I’m confident that even an unbiased reader will find a lot to like. Toby reads Job as…

October 31, 2012

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