Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Every attempt to understand the Christian sacraments makes use of comparisons or analogies with other rituals, events, or customs. Calvin and those who followed him, for example, spoke of the sacraments as “seals,” and compared them to the “seal of approval” that an official impresses on a document. Thinking about…
Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy has pointed out in his essay "Hitler and Israel, or On Prayer" (available for $2.00 from Biblical Horizons ) that it is God’s word "No!" that establishes in a culture the distinction between the Creator and the creature. The Bible repeatedly says "No!" to every human attempt to…
If you missed Gattaca at the movie theaters, you can probably check it out from your local video store now. And you should. This is one of those relatively rare thought-provoking movies that can stand being watched with brain in gear more than once. It is also poetic, sensitive, visually…
Part 4: The Nephilim Factor Western Civilization partakes of what I call "the Nephilim Factor." The Enoch Factor means that the pagans get there first. This is both a blessing and a danger. As a blessing, it means that they work out techniques of dominion over the lower creation that…
The Worship Service Then the one speaking with me took me by the hair and lifted me into the air in the middle of the great room. And as I watched, I saw people entering the room to the sound of the great bells outside. Then entered from all four…
Part 3: Philosophy (continued) If we realize that human beings are the images of God, and that man hates God, then we realize that all non-Christian political philosophy is founded on a fundamental hatred of other human beings, a hatred manifest in contempt. Rome, like Enoch, was founded on the…
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Some more quotations from the same Auden essay (the whole thing is wonderful): He is, like CS Lewis in Allegory of Love , comparing Greek conceptions of love with medieval and modern romantic conceptions, but adds a dash of de Rougemont: The Tristan-Isolde myth is unGreek because no Greek could…
In an introduction to a volume called The Portable Greek Reader , W. H. Auden made these comments about Greek philosophy: The great difference between the Greek conception of Nature and later ones is that the Greeks thought of the universe as analogous to a city-state, so that for them…
Who was the most spiritual man of the Old Testament? Judging from word count alone (admittedly not an infallible guide), the answer would have to be Samson. The Spirit comes on him four times, more than any other OT character. Samson was the most spiritual man prior to Jesus.
An insight on the conversion of Levi in Luke 5:27-32, suggested by my wife: Levi is called away from his tax booth, leaves everything to follow Jesus, and in the very next scene is hosting a banquet. There are two dimensions to this: first, Levi leaves a profession notorious for…
Sermon notes for August 24, 2003 What Shall We Do? Luke 3:1-38 INTRODUCTION John’s message of impending judgment on Israel is not some side issue for him or for Jesus. Both are prophets of doom, warning Israel as Moses warned Pharaoh. This message is an essential part of “preaching the…
Some very interesting material in Richard Muller’s book on the Trinity, the fourth volume of his monumental Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics . First, a couple of quotations about the treatment of the Trinity in early Reformed Orthodoxy: One of the major features of this period was “a broadened sense of the…
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