Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
“And it shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they shall say no more, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.’ And it shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor…
Elsewhere, I have argued that there is grace in the so-called covenant of works (see, e.g., my colloquium essay, “A Response to ‘The Biblical Plan of Salvation,’” in The Auburn Avenue Theology: Pros and Cons , edited by Calvin Beisner (pages 118-148). It may be equally surprising to find justice…
Years ago, as a layman, I had the privilege of attending a Bible study led by a gifted teacher. His story was interesting: back when he was a student he had been severely sanctioned for affirming that one must repent in order to be saved, that one must trust Jesus…
Believing that God really exists Defining “faith” is sometimes made too complicated. The theologian, Louis Berkhof, for example, distinguishes “faith in general” from “faith in the religious sense and particularly saving faith.” Berkhof’s core definition of saving faith is not so bad. He says that it is “a certain conviction,…
It is generally acknowledged that when Paul wrote letters to churches, he expected his letters to be read in the worship service to the congregation. It is interesting, then, that when Paul wrote letters to a congregation he could feel free to address children and tell them to obey their…
Book 4 of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is a classic work of ecclesiology. This book is the longest section of the Institutes , showing Calvin’s deep interest in and love for the church. Among its many salutary features is a full scale exposition of those ecclesiastical leaders Calvin…
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Departures are funny things in the Bible. No one ever completely leaves. Moses dies, but Joshua, a new Moses, replaces him. Elijah flies to heaven in a chariot of fire, but Elisha is left behind, filled with the spirit of Elijah. Jesus says, I am going away, and in the…
Since 1900, it’s been unavailable but before that, “Christ’s foreskin was one of the most popular relics in Christendom” (David Farley, AN Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town ) Catherine of Siena said she wore the foreskin as a wedding ring, being a…
Users of LSD during the 60s were not just out for a joy ride. They were the vanguard of a new race. Jay Stevens says ( Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream , xiii-xiv): “the hippies were an attempt to push evolution, to jump the species toward a higher…
The point has been made by many, but few have made it as concisely as Ivan Illich in Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health . Writing in the 1970s, he noted that “during the last century doctors have affected epidemics no more profoundly than did priests during earlier times. Epidemics…
We think science is objective. But scientific objectivity has a history, and is a fairly recent arrival as a scientific aspiration. Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison observe in Objectivity (17), “Objectivity has not always define science. Nor is objectivity the same as truth or certainty, and it is younger than…
American marriage is unique, argues Andrew Cherlin ( The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today , 9-10), because American marriage marries individualism and marriage: “Family life in America comprises both cultural models - marriage and individualism. Each is part of the cultural tool kit .…
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