Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The doctrine of justification is precious among Protestants. And it should be. The fact that God has declared our sins forgiven and that we have a righteous standing in the sight of God united to Christ is comforting and brings great joy. Unfortunately, the biblical teaching on justification is, many…
The Old Testament priests were given a number of seemingly disparate duties. As everyone knows, the priests led the sacrificial worship of Israel; only the priests could sprinkle blood on the altar or within the tabernacle, and only they could approach the altar to turn sacrificial animals into smoke. But…
M issional ecclesiology is all the rage these days, but for many being “missional” means downplaying or even eliminating concern for the “internal” life of the church, particularly its liturgical life. Missional and liturgical, mission and communio , are locked in zero-sum combat. That cannot be right. The liturgy is…
An old friend of mine, now passed into Heaven, started to say this in relationship to his sometimes troubled family, in the last quarter of his life, "I just had to take responsibility for the whole thing..." That was the seed for a new reading of the Gospel for me,…
She departed the port, dressed in her best ceremonial regalia, with tassels and flags fluttering from her mast and rigging. She stood tall, robed in mist, crowned in white, and backlit by the rising sun. There she sat, shimmering and spotless; with a perfect ragtop, and a full tank of…
John the Baptist is presented in the gospels as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise that God would send His messenger to prepare the way for the coming of the glory of the Lord (Is. 40), and the promise to send Elijah before Him to turn the people to…
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Harnack didn't much like Anselm's Cur Deus Homo . Toward the end of his summary and critique in History of Dogma, vol. 6 , he pays Anselm a back-handed compliment: “perhaps no one can frame a better, who isolates the death of Christ from His life, and wishes to see…
At Theopolis this week, we spent a long time poring over the strange episode in Exodus 4:24-26. Moses is returning from Midian to Egypt, and stops at a lodging place, where “Yahweh met him and sought to put him to death.” Zipporah saved the day by circumcising Gershom, spreading the…
In his classic study of Psychological Warfare , Paul Linebarger offers historical examples of successful and unsuccessful psychological warfare. Milton's support for the Cromwellian regime calls into the latter category: “Milton fell into the common booby-trap of refuting his opponents item by item, thus leaving them the strong affirmative position,…
Raymund Schwager ( Jesus in the Drama of Salvation ) that human beings are “simultaneously involved in two situations. As responsible for sins, all belong to the great band of those who form an alliance against God's anointed, judge him, drive him out, and reject him. As victims of their…
When Pope Francis met with the Russian Patriarch Kirill met last Friday, it was an ecumenical moment of the highest order, the first meeting in history between a bishop of Rome and a Russian Patriarch. The meeting highlights two of the most important events of the 20 th century –…
Israel's suffering in Egypt was intense. Israel's growth spooked Pharaoh. Multiplying and spreading and growing, Israel looked like a threat to Egypt. To protect the system, Pharaoh took stern action. He subjected Israel to hard labor, then had their sons killed, then instructed his people to throw the sons of…
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