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Writing

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

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Biblical Horizons

Gordon Wenham on Ritual

In a brief article entitled, “The Theology of Old Testament Sacrifice," Gordon Wenham, expanding on a comment about ritual from anthropologist Monica Wilson, states: We resort to ritual when we want to express our deepest feelings. Consider the rituals used in greeting people in our society: a nod, a handshake,…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 27, 1995
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Biblical Horizons

A Postscript to the Meyers Thesis

Everyone here in Cambridge is talking about sacrifice. My supervisor, Dr. John Milbank, is working on a book on gift in which he is dealing with recent literature on sacrifice. The graduate seminar in Systematics during Michaelmas Term focused on the theme of sacrifice. The first presenter was Dr. Ian…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 27, 1995
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Baptism

Sacramental Efficacy

Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato , virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the hocus-pocus and "presto!" the sacraments confer grace.…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 26, 1995
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Exodus

Mansions in the Sky, The Meaning of the Tabernacle

When Israel came out of Egypt, she was a collection of tribes descended from the Tribe of Abraham. Tribalism drops out of history into the "world" by looking back to ancestors and by orienting to the spirits that govern the world. The world must not be manipulated, because to do…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995
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Revelation

The Angels of Revelation

Angels are the mediators of the Old Creation, as Eugenio Corsini has rightly pointed out in his commentary, The Apocalypse. For this reason, argues Corsini, the book of Revelation must have to do with the final end of the Old Creation order, which he associates with the work of Jesus…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995
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Biblical Horizons

Triune Revelation and Through New Eyes Volume 2

Our procedure in "Through New Eyes Volume 2" thus far has been to lay out the general overview of history and its meaning as the Bible presents it. My hope is to fill this out in four major sections, corresponding to the four ages and the four testaments in the…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995

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Freed from Futility

P aul encourages the Romans to endure because the sufferings they endure pale in comparison to the glory that will be revealed “into” them. Paul’s language suggests that glory will not merely be shown to the sons of God, but that it will be bestowed on us (Romans 8). The…

July 26, 2017

You Are Witnesses

“Y ou are My witnesses,” Yahweh says to Israel (Isaiah 43:1). Then again, “You are my witnesses” (43:12) And a third time, “You are my witnesses” (44:8). Israel is Yahweh’s Servant, and as Servant a witness. Israel's history provides a witness in Yahweh's defense against the accusations of the nations…

July 25, 2017

Conservatism's Putin Problem, Revisited

T homas Hamilton writes to challenge last week's essay on Putin, nationalism, and globalism. He doesn't think that I fairly captured why American conservatives are partial to Putin: I didn't think your article on Putin and the American right quite represented what many paleoconservatives (including myself) see in Putin. Buchanan,…

July 25, 2017

Song of the Justified

R omans 8:31–39 is better sung than commented upon. It’s a thrilling, ecstatic hymn of boisterous assurance that God’s purposes will be accomplished. Yet, I will attempt to comment on them. If we sing Paul’s hymn, let’s make sure we sing with understanding. Given the character of these verses, it’s…

July 24, 2017

Return to Paterson

T wo weeks after watching, I'm still thinking about Paterson the film and the poem . A few notes: 1) Internal rhymes thicken the fabric of the film. Paterson meets several sets of twins (reflections of Paterson the driver and Paterson the city?). When his bus breaks down, several people…

July 21, 2017

Simeon's Trust

I n his book, The Silent Revolution and the Making of Victorian England , Herbert Schlossberg sums up the career of the Cambridge Evangelical leader, Charles Simeon. He emphasizes Simeon's role as trustee of “Simeon's Trust,” a project that depended on “the peculiar nature of the right to appoint church…

July 21, 2017

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