Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
My first title for this series of posts was “Evangelical Sacramental Ecumenism” – not exactly a clickbait title. But those three words, evangelical, sacramental, and ecumenical, say a lot: The centrality of the gospel; a focus on baptism, bread, and wine; and the quest for visible unity among diverse churches.…
I can imagine someone reading the title of this essay and saying to himself, "I have two questions. First, what in the world is “contextualization”?" Second, even before hearing the answer to the first question, he may wonder, "what does baptism have to do with such an awkward and vague…
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 My colleague Ralph Smith has recently written on this passage, here . I entirely agree with Ralph's thrust, which is typological, that the passage is ultimately aimed at the entire nation of Israel itself as the rebellious son. But what I am thinking is from another perspective, perhaps…
In the previous article in this series, I drew attention to the threefold meaning of the Spirit of God descending as a dove on Jesus at His baptism. On a related note, I also argued that 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Titus 3:3-7 were parallel passages that addressed the same issues…
The National Anthem protest is misguided. So too the conservative backlash. The Church’s response has been disappointing. I address each in turn. The greatest triumph of the American Civil Rights Movement was its seizing of the moral high ground in American politics. It did so by insisting only on those…
Peter Leithart’s book, The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism , argues that baptism is parallel to and the fulfillment of the old covenant rite of priestly ordination. But this is not something explicitly stated in the New Testament. Why, then, should we believe it? Leithart shows in…
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J oseph Heath and Andrew Potter ( Nation of Rebels ) characterize the 1999 film, American Beauty , as “a completely uncompromising recitation of '60s countercultural ideology. It's the hippies versus the fascists, still slugging it out three decades after Woodstock.” The characters split neatly into two groups: “the countercultural…
L inguist and philosopher George Lakoff, co-author of Metaphors We Live By and many other works, wants to help Democrats win elections. In a Salon interview with Paul Rosenberg, he explains the advantages conservatives have in American elections. Studying and doing business, he argues, is good training for political persuasion:…
I n an essay on “America's Shakespeare” at National Interest , Algis Valiunas traces the shifting political of Shakespeare in the US. Whitman initially thought Shakespeare was “poisonous to the idea of the pride and dignity of the common people, the life-blood of Democracy.” Further study of the history plays…
N ick Spencer ( Atheists: The Origin of the Species ) doesn't believe the standard creation myths about atheism. According to the standard account, atheism is the produce of reason and science: “men began to work the metal, which they called ‘reason’, using it to forge a new weapon, which…
I n his Eclipse of Man , Charles Rubin traces a genealogy of transhumanism. Among the sources is a now-forgotten 1872 book by William Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man . Reade looked ahead to the time when science would enable human beings to transcend their bodies: “These bodies which…
D avid is no Achan. Achan was the Judahite who seized plunder from Jericho, booty that belonged to Yahweh. Achan's sacrilege led to a disastrous defeat at Ai, which was erased only after Joshua executed Achan and his complicit family (Joshua 7; 1 Chronicles 2:7). David is no Achan. When…
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