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American Religion

Protestantism's Lost Soul

D. G. Hart’s The Lost Soul of American Protestantism vividly clarifies the differences between evangelical and Confessional Protestantism. In part the book is a manifesto for historians of American religion. Hart argues that historians of American Protestantism have operated with a simplistic binary contrast of evangelical/conservative v. liberal/progressive. At best,…

by Peter LeithartAugust 18, 2015
dostoyevsky
Books

The Idiot and the Limits of Compassion

Dostoyevsky’s novel, The Idiot , like his other major works, is a complex evaluation of the human condition—a juxtaposition of the innate goodness and innate evil that resides within every human heart. There is much one can say about The Idiot . I am no specialist of Russian literature, or…

by Gerald HiestandAugust 13, 2015
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Homosexuality

If There is “Natural Law” How Can People Believe in Same-Sex Marriage?

At risk of violating some secret handshake agreement on some important nuance to “natural law,” I will sum up what I understand in my own words. As far as I can tell natural law is supposed to be an area of knowledge that all people should be able to agree…

by Mark HorneAugust 11, 2015
falling-star
Biblical Studies

Cosmic Language, 2

The first installment of this article may be found here . The Image of Man This brings us to a substitutionary atonement which we do understand, the fulfilment of the cruciform Tabernacle in the cross of Christ. Although Jesus’ execution was Physical and Social, it was primarily Personal . Beginning…

by Mike BullAugust 6, 2015
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Genesis

Every Noise Appalls

The first two essays in this series drew attention to the structure of the first part of Macbeth and to the way Shakespeare incorporates the Garden of Eden into his story. Macbeth , we saw, is a temptation story in which, compared to the Biblical story, the temptation itself is…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 4, 2015
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Revelation

The Warrior and the City: A Wedding Homily

Revelation 19:6-9 Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For theLord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him,…

by Peter LeithartAugust 3, 2015

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Wilderness Retreat

Many scholars have pointed to the fact that the tabernacle is an architectural representation of Mount Sinai. The tabernacle is divided into three zones - court, holy place, most holy place - with different degrees of access; Sinai was organized the same way. The altar of ascensions in the courtyard…

September 8, 2015

Is Kim Davis Breaking the Law?

From both left and right, critics of Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis have criticized her as a law-breaker. Supporters of same-sex marriage say that her religious scruples don't give her the right to pick and choose what responsibilities she'll fulfill. Critics from the right have said her stance is a…

September 5, 2015

The Un-Ideal Community

In Life Together , Bonhoeffer explains that “Christian community is not an ideal, but a divine reality” (quoted in Paul House, Bonhoeffer's Seminary Vision , 109). That is not merely a theoretical distinction. In Bonhoeffer's opinion, “On innumerable occasions a whole Christian community has been shattered because it has lived…

September 4, 2015

Brides

At the beginning of Exodus, Pharaoh is spooked by Israel's teeming growth. To keep them in check, he instructs the midwives to kill all Hebrew boys and spare the girls (Exodus 1:16). The girls will presumably be raised as Egyptians, become Egyptian wives and mothers, and Israel will be neutralized…

September 4, 2015

Scripture Is Not Tradition

Lesslie Newbigin ( Reunion of the Church , 129-131) explains that the Church of South India (CSI) statement regarding Scripture “excludes the possibility of treating the Scriptures merely as the earliest expression of the continuous faith of the Church, and treats the faith of the Church as a response, continuously…

September 4, 2015

Inequality Trap

In a forthcoming book on The Inequality Trap , William Watson argues that the contemporary obsession with inequality is both an error and a trap. An error because “inequality, unlike poverty, is not the problem it is so widely presumed to be. Inequality can be good, it can be bad,…

September 4, 2015

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