Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Failure of the Church Yet a third factor played an important role in this historical development, in addition to the imperial adoption of icons and the rise of the icons of the holy man. Brown writes: "The great Christian basilicas of the previous centuries tended to stand empty, except…
The three large patriarchal narratives of Genesis concern the three aspects of the cosmos: matter, space, and time. Over these three is man given dominion. Lucifer was originally appointed to train man in this dominion, but he chose to lead man into rebellion instead. Thus, the Angel of Yahweh replaced…
Part 6: Living in a Dying World (continued) The "Trivium" (continued) The five stages of education are simply the five stages of the covenant as God administers it in human life and history, and in the liturgy of covenant renewal: First, God announces Himself. "I am Yahweh Your God." He…
The following essay is tentative and exploratory, offered for your consideration. It seems to me that the ritual of the Ascension Offering (incorrectly translated as Burnt Offering) of Leviticus 1 is a symbolic recapitulation of Genesis 1, which thereby portrays the sacrificial ritual as way of moving from a fallen…
Just as the vast majority of evangelical Christians in America today are Arminian and Baptist, so the vast majority do not believe in a creation around 4000 BC. I don’t expect any of these three situations to change anytime soon. Powerful presuppositions are at work in all three instances, along…
The Iconoclastic Controversy Continuing Pagan Influence How did images creep in? To begin with, there was in the post-Constantinian Church a concerted effort on the part of the semi-pagans to interpret Christianity in essentially pantheistic terms. The heretics put God and man on a continuum of "being," so that God…
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Richard A. Burridge, Four Gospels, One Jesus? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994). Richard Burridge, dean of King’s College, London, has produced an insightful and very accessible introduction to the gospels. The book is straightforwardly organized: After an introduction that treats the various forms of modern New Testament criticism, he offers a…
I found several reviews (and partial reviews) of articles and books on my hard drive, and will post them here. Some of them were posted on a now-defunct web site, so this will make them available on the web, for those who know that this site exists! John Milbank, “The…
Teaching on Basil’s treatise On the Holy Spirit this year, I was impressed again with this wonderful treatise. Some quotations, from the St Vladimir’s edition: On the cosmic role of the Spirit: All things thirsting for holiness turn to Him; everything living in virtue never turns away from Him. He…
In 1 Samuel 12, Samuel gives his farewell speech to the people. He claims that he has not abused his position in any way, and asks the people to confirm this, citing Yahweh and “His anointed” as witnesses in his defense. Who is the “anointed”? Clearly, it is someone distinct…
Sermon Notes for August 31, 2003 Jubilee, Luke 4:1-44 INTRODUCTION At His baptism, Jesus is filled with the Spirit (Luke 3:21-22). As any Jew would know, the next thing that’s going to happen is a battle. Depend on it: When the Spirit comes, somebody’s gonna get hurt. Like Othniel (Judges…
Robert C. Tannehill’s 2-volume work, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts , is full of sharp insights. At least that’s true of the bit I’ve read. He points out, for example, the basic structural device of using prophetic quotations and long speeches to introduce each of the major figures in his…
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