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Writing

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

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Easter

An Easter Meditation

The resurrection stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are among the strangest stories in all of the literature of the world, even among the strangest stories in the Bible. That is true of each Gospel’s accounts individually, but even more of the collection as a whole. On the one…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 20, 2025
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Technology

Ministering to Mooks on the Age of the Internet of Beefs

As a pastor, I’m interested in discipleship. Christians are called to be disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Discipleship has everything to do with the disciplines we walk by in our lives. Things like Bible reading, prayer, and fasting are hallmarks of standard Christian discipleship. The basic thrust is that…

by Michael HansenApril 15, 2025
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Chiasm

Immobility or Infinity: Chiastic Trajectories in Psalm 1

Psalm 1 is justly famous among biblical texts. It opens the Psalter, it’s a paean to the life-giving power of the Law, and it beautifully describes righteous life as a stable, fruitful tree. It subtly weaves the contrasting threads of wickedness and righteousness into a succinct summary of biblical wisdom:…

by Joseph RheaApril 8, 2025
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Hebrews

Eight Lessons on the Psalms from the Book of Hebrews

No book is more quoted in Hebrews than the Psalter: there are quotations and allusions to psalms on virtually every page. And many of the quotations are not passing references but closely considered and repeatedly cited as the author of Hebrews develops his central arguments. Much of Hebrews is exposition…

by Alastair RobertsApril 1, 2025
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Theology

The God Problem

Howard Bloom is a beautiful hypocrite. The author of books in as different subjects as Mohammed, scientific theory, and the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, he professes to be a “stone cold atheist.” Yet in spite of that profession, Bloom obviously writes as a Jew; that is, he writes with…

by Ralph Allan SmithMarch 27, 2025
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Art

The Comedic World of Flannery O’Connor

There may be some debate about who deserves the title “the King of American literature,” but, at least to my mind, there should be no debate over who deserves to be “the Queen” – let’s give the crown to Flannery O’Connor. She is, however, a very unlikely queen. Unlikely, not…

by Steve WilkinsMarch 25, 2025

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Tale of Three Cities

In his book on the gospel in Genesis, Warren Gage notes that the book tell a tale of three cities: “Cain set out to found and build an earthly city, his descendants developing a technology suited to creating an earthly paradise. Cain’s city was located in the east (4:16), which…

October 19, 2005

Eucharistic meditation, October 16

2 Kings 6:22-23: Elisha answered, You shall not kill them . . . . set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master. So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk he sent them away,…

October 16, 2005

Baptismal meditation, October 16

2 Kings 6:6-7: Then the man of God said, Where did it fall? And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there, and made the iron float. And he said, Take it up for yourself. So he put out his hand and…

October 16, 2005

Exhortation, October 16

Unlike pre-modern Christians, we think and talk little about angels. We are often functional empiricists, who instinctively believe that only visible things are real. Of course, there’s God up there somewhere, but we don’t think we have to press through a crowd of angels every time we move; we don’t…

October 16, 2005

Structure of Elijah narratives

A possible chiastic ouline for the stories of Elijah: A. Elijah appears suddenly, and leaves the land, 1 Kings 17 B. Fire from heaven in a contest of gods, 1 Kings 18 C. Elijah complains to Yahweh on Horeb, and is assured that Ahab’s house will perish, 1 Kings 19…

October 10, 2005

Sermon Outline, October 16

INTRODUCTION Since the early church, Christians have struggled against “Marcionism,” the heretical idea that the Creator-God of the Old Testament is different from the Redeemer-God of the New. The Old Testament reveals a God of wrath and law, the New a God of love and gospel. Frequently, this takes the…

October 10, 2005

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