Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
1 Introduction ESTHER and RUTH are similar stories. Each details the changing fortunes of a young woman. Each begins with the protagonist in a destitute situation. The fortunes of each reverses by story’s end. Intriguing parallels exist: Scenes : The stories transition through a similar set of scenes, see Table…
Maybe this is not the best venue to reveal that I sometimes wonder about all that deep exegesis: the chiasms, the numerology, vowel modifications, the typological labyrinthes, the innumerable exodus patterns that are so often limned by Peter Leithart or James Jordan or Alastair Roberts. Maybe it’s because I am…
In 1923, J. Gresham Machen wrote the book he is perhaps most remembered for, “Christianity and Liberalism”. Machen wrote it to help map out the cultural currents that were impacting the church with the hope that the church could be vigilant against the dangers theological liberalism posed to historic Christianity.…
March 25, nine months before Christmas, is the date that is often associated with the Annunciation to Mary, Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that, by the coming of the Spirit upon her, she would conceive and bear the heir to David’s throne, whose kingdom would have no end. The story is…
Race and Covenant: Recovering the Religious Roots for American Reconciliation , edited by Gerald R. McDermott (Grand Rapids, MI: Acton Institute), 278 pp. A group of notable thinkers gathered to discuss biblical resources for addressing racial conflict in America in February 2019 at Samford University in Birmingham. Race and Covenant…
“Covenant Creationism,” which might be the most consistent brand of full preterism, is merely dispensationalism turned inside-out. The main cause of disputes over the interpretation of the Scriptures is the practice of interpreting texts in isolation. This applies not only to interpreting a passage without reference to other passages, but…
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Like his book on the sacraments , Henry de Candole's brief study of the Eucharist, The Church's Offering , shows that liturgical renewal is inevitably also a renewal of ecclesiology. De Candole distinguishes between private prayers and the public worship of the church. The latter "is not simply the gathering…
In the opening essay to Reflexive Modernization , Ulrich Beck defines the phrase in the book's title as "the possibility of a creative (self-)destruction for an entire epoch." This creative destruction is not the product of a crisis but the result of the "victory of Western modernization" (2). Quoting Marx…
In After God , Tristram Engelhardt notes that autonomy is not merely a source of authority in secular culture, but "a cardinal directing value or goal." In today's world, one is "obliged freely to choose in conformity with very particular understandings of freedom. The result is that morally condemning autonomously…
Just before Luke records Jesus' visit to the home of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50), he records Jesus teaching about the responses of the Jewish leaders to His ministry and the ministry of John (7:30-35). They don't catch the tune of the times, but the tax gatherers and sinners do.…
The following essay was first published at Firstthings.com . Lent is a time of renunciation and fasting, spiritual striving, self-examination, contrition, and penitence. It seems a grim and black season of self-accusation. But that’s all superficial. Lent is better understood as a season of Christian comedy. It’s not the glum…
Even after the disciples have seen Jesus calm the storm and walk on the sea, even after they have eaten miracle bread, they don’t understand. They don’t know what we know – that Jesus is Son of God. The problem isn’t a lack of evidence. They have plenty of evidence…
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