Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Paul writes to Jews, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:22b) The English translation “rob temples” makes readers think of pagan temples. There was only one Temple for Israel, so robbing more than one would indicate other temples are in view. And if the Jews wanted to…
Two offerings Humanity’s first vocation involves guarding and serving the trees that emerge from the ground (Genesis 2:15). God provides these trees to humanity for food. A serpent appears and tempts the couple to eat from a special forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Humanity…
At the outset of the Torah (as Christians understand it), a triune God creates the heavens and earth over the course of a seven-day week. Why? What’s the connection between the three and the seven? Could a triune God have created the world over any period of time he chose?…
How relevant to the modern reader are the flying axe head of Deuteronomy 19:5 and the roof parapet of Deuteronomy 22:8? Indeed, how relevant were they to the daily lives of Israelites thirty-five hundred years ago? Suppose that accidental falls from rooftops were exceedingly uncommon in ancient Israel, or that…
1 For most of my life, the standing of the American church as a source of national social and political order was measured by reports from the front of the so-called “culture wars.” 2 Memory brings to mind battles over feminism and the ERA, so-called gay rights, the breakdown of…
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel…’ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the…
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TNR (July 3) has several articles on conservative culture. Rick Perlstein suggests that conservatism is a “jerry-rigged” coalition that has little ideological unity. But conservative is unified nonetheless: “you never see the sponsors of purity balls going on CNN to denounce ‘Ann Coulter Gone Wild.’” Conservatives are united not by…
Jesus teaches in parables to fulfill what the prophet spoke: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world” (Matt 13:35). The “prophet” cited is Asaph (Psalm 78:2), and the Psalm cited is a review of Israel’s history from the exodus,…
Illusion and truth are opposites, right? But isn’t it the case that illusion is an integral part of true perception. The sofa across the room is no bigger than my thumbnail, and I can blot out the tree with my forefinger. If these objects appeared to me in their actual…
The Enlightenment held to a belief in human perfectibility, it is often said. The term itself was coined by Rousseau, but Rousseau saw it as a deeply ambiguous faculty, “the source of all misfortunes of man.” Perfectibility is the faculty that draws together and motivates all other faculties so as…
Jesus warns at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that those who hear His words and fail to do them will collapse. The image of the collapsing house, as NT Wright has suggested, likely refers to the temple: Jesus is setting out a program for Israel’s national survival…
James Jordan points to structural links between the death of the innocents at hands of Herod (Matt 2) death of innocent Jesus at hands of Romans (Matt 27). While Jesus escapes the first slaughter by fleeing to Egypt, he enters the “Egypt” of Jerusalem/Judea to suffer the slaughter. There is…
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