Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
For many people the date October 31 is significant not only for being the Eve of All Saints (All Hallows Eve, Halloween) but as the day in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. These theses were a list of…
It has become routine in October for some Christian schools to send out letters warning parents about the evils of Halloween, and it has become equally routine for me to be asked questions about this matter. "Halloween" is simply a contraction for All Hallows’ Eve. The word "hallow" means "saint,"…
The following is an excerpt from Peter Leithart's forthcoming two-volume commentary on Revelation (T&T Clark). Y ou must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings,” a voice tells John (Rev. 10:11). Then someone gives him a “reed like a rod” and instructs him to measure (11:1).…
Josiah is an ideal Davidic king in many ways. He not only “did right,” but he “walked in the ways of his father David” and “did not turn aside to the right or to the left” (2 Chronicles 34:2). At the age of 16, he began to seek Yahweh, and…
One of the best discussions of Augustine’s views on time comes from Jeremy Begbie’s Theology, Music, and Time (ch. 3). Following Paul Ricoeur, Begbie claims that Augustine’s distentio “is conceived as the three-fold present, and the threefold present as distentio . The distentio consists in the non-coincidence of the mind’s…
This has always been the position of the Christian Church, and from an historical perspective the present situation in evangelicalism is appalling. The early liturgies of the Church, which are still used in Episcopal and Lutheran worship, are laced with psalm phrases. The early hymns, such as the Te Deum…
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In contrast to other commentators, Stephen Smalley ( The Revelation to John ) doesn't think the “wrath” of God in Revelation should be understood as “the impersonal consequence of sin, worked out in history and disclosed at the parousia.” In Revelation and the rest of the New Testament, rather, “‘wrath'…
Adrian Daub and Charles Kronengold examine the James Bond Songs in a forthcoming book. It doesn't seem an especially promising subject; it's not the kind of thing you expect from the venerable Oxford University Press. But Daub and Kronengold show that the music is revealing in more ways that the…
Babylon is first mentioned in Revelation in 14:8, and is immediately associated with wine. It's called the “wine of the passion of her immorality.” That suggests a number of connections. The Song of Songs links wine with love: Love is better than wine, and the lovers drink each other and…
Drawing on Andrew Walls's idea of the “Ephesian moment” in world Christianity, Emmanuel Katongole notes that the coming together of different cultures into the church depends on a common table: “the expression and test of that coming together was the meal table: ‘two cultures historically separated by the meal table…
Three angels issue announcements in Revelation 14. The first angel is said to be flying in midheaven (14:6), the same phrase used for the eagle who appears after the fourth trumpet blows (8:13). Both speak with a loud voice (8:13; 14:7). The messages are somewhat contrasting: The angel announces three…
Scholars have doubted the coherence of this chapter, one calling is a “pastiche” of themes from other parts of the book of Revelation. In a brilliant article, Pieter GR de Villiers has presented a compelling structural analysis of the whole chapter. As a number of scholars have pointed out, chapter…
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