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

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Abortion

PROLIFISM: A New Humanism

There is nothing good Satan cannot pervert, and that fact extends to the Christian public witness against abortion just as it applies to everything else. As a Christian who has written, marched, and picketed against legalized abortion since 1970, I have been saddened to see the development of the anti-Christ…

by James B. JordanApril 6, 1994
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Biblical Chronology

The Chronology of the Pentateuch (Part 2)

(We are discussing the meaning of the phrase "cutting off of days" in Genesis 4:3, showing that it implies the turn of the year in autumn.) Two passages use the term "cutting off of years" to refer to the lunar year, beginning in the Spring. Exodus 12:41 – at the…

by James B. JordanApril 6, 1994
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Haggai

The Wealth of Nations

In the second year of Darius, near the end of the feast of booths, the prophet Haggai encouraged the Jews of the restoration to continue their work on the temple by assuring them that “the latter glory of this house will be greater than then former” (Hag. 2:9). To this…

by Peter LeithartApril 6, 1994
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Biblical Horizons

A Theology of Ritual: Mapping the Territory

G. K. Chesterton began Orthodoxy by describing the plot of a book that he had never written. Taking a page from Chesterton, below I will briefly map out the territory of a book (or books) that need(s) to be written. Had I but world enough and time–and a small army…

by Peter LeithartApril 5, 1994
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Deuteronomy

Israel and Other Gods

As long as Moses lived, Israel seldom worshipped other gods directly. She broke the First Word by breaking the Second, worshipping God through the calf. As we shall see, God always treats such Liturgical Idolatry as Covenantal Idolatry, but it is far more serious because it is committed by those…

by James B. JordanApril 5, 1994
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Biblical Studies

The Holy City Revisited

In response to my article, " The Holy City " (in Biblical Horizons 55) James B. Jordan has made several suggestions about how I might expand on the ideas presented there. Several other readers have also contributed their insights. Below, I trace a few sketchy lines of thought. 1. The…

by Peter LeithartMarch 23, 1994

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Fiction

The Promise

While his wife Rachel is dying, Manie Swart promises to give one of the family houses to Salome, the family’s lifelong black maid. Young Amor Swart overhears The Promise and asks about it after her mother’s death. Manie pretends he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Years later, Manie dies…

July 25, 2022
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CreationTheology

In Praise of Thomas

Gotta love ol’ Tommaso d’Aquino, a.k.a. Thomas Aquinas. The margins of my various copies of his works are full of notes of disagreement and question marks, but still: His toss-off arguments are usually deeper than the sustained arguments of lesser theologians. Here’s a pot pourri from the early part of…

July 18, 2022
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American PoliticsBiblical Studies

Enemies into Friends

This essay was first published at FirstThings.com in September 2019. Given recent debate about justice, friends, and enemies, it seemed useful to repost it here. A third of the way through the Book of Acts, a man named Saul takes over the narrative. Like Israel’s King Saul, this Saul is…

July 13, 2022
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Philosophy

Of Causes and Effects

This essay was first published in The Theopolitan, a weekly newsletter for Theopolis Partners. To become a Partner, you must donate at least $500 per year or $50 per month. Give here . Craig Carter’s Thesis #2 about Trinitarian classical theism ( Contemplating God with the Great Tradition ) is,…

July 11, 2022
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Creation

All Is Yours

“All things are yours,” Paul says (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). Therefore, writes Thomas Traherne ( Centuries of Meditation ), we should enjoy them as our own possessions: God . . . hath made it infinitely easy to enjoy, by making everything ours, and us able so easily to prize them. Everything…

July 4, 2022
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Exodus

Torah as Promise

This essay was first published in The Theopolitan, a weekly newsletter for Theopolis Partners. To become a Partner, you must donate at least $500 per year or $50 per month. Give here . It’s a truism that each negative commandment in Scripture implies a positive command. “Do not kill” entails…

June 27, 2022

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