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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Poetry

Seed-bearing Fruit

Ten-thousand ‘yeses’ and a single ‘no.’ From bough it dangles, beauty to the eyes, For belly, food, a fruit to make one wise. Too soon, they eat; they know; the leaves they sew, But, oh! the Love who asks, “Where did you go?” Confessions flow from under leaf’s disguise; A…

by Marc HaysAugust 16, 2023
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Augustine

Eternal Life Chiasm in John's Gospel

In his masterful work, De Doctrina Christiana , Augustine of Hippo writes: I would have learned men to know that the authors of our Scriptures use all those forms of expression which grammarians call by the Greek name tropes, and use them more freely and in greater variety than people…

by Doug PonderAugust 15, 2023
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Ruth

Lot, Ruth, and the Work of New Creation

“In accordance with the creation pattern, God sovereignly took hold of Adam and put him to sleep. Then God divided Adam by removing flesh and bone from his side, and restructured humanity into male and female. When Adam awoke, God distributed the woman to him. Adam gazed upon her and…

by Josh JensenAugust 8, 2023
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Culture

The Barbie Movie

Greta Gerwig’s new film, Barbie, has been criticized, probably rightly, for having too many ideas and layers to properly bring in any for a landing. Gerwig herself thought the script was so “ wild and anarchic ” that she was surprised WB agreed to make it. Many see it as…

by Robin HarrisAugust 1, 2023
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Matthew

Why Does John the Baptizer Look Like a Camel?

“Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Matt. 3:4). Why is John the Baptizer clothed with camel’s hair? Why does he want to look like a camel? Or at least: what does he expect…

by Jeff MeyersJuly 26, 2023
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Literature

Stinking, Rotten Ministers of the Gospel

In the second greatest story ever told, The Brothers Karamazov , Fyodor Dostoyevsky tells the story of a family plagued by the lasting legacy of sin’s destructive power and the all-surpassing truth that God is Light and in Him is no darkness. The young protagonist, Alyosha, is a monk committed…

by Garrett SoucyJuly 18, 2023

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Life in a Medieval Parish

“Parochial Christianity,” writes Mark Greengrass ( Christendom Destroyed ), “was more than a religious experience. It was a set of rights to benefices which were the key to monopoly revenues (the tithe, collected in various forms) in which patrons, collators and clergymen all had interests. And behind every parish church…

June 5, 2015

Crusoe Errant

Robinson Crusoe suffers enormous hardship before he ever gets to his island, and the hardship seems disproportionate to the wrong he commits. Is running off to sea against his father's wishes such an enormity? In his classic study of Defoe and Spiritual Autobiography , GA Starr explains that Robinson “defies…

June 4, 2015

Restorative Justice

Howard Zehr makes clear in his Little Book of Restorative Justice that “restorative justice” isn't a panacea. It doesn't pretend to replace the the legal system, nor is it necessarily opposed to retribution (12-13). Primarily, restorative justice is an effort to put the principle actors back at the center of…

June 4, 2015

Gift of Work

RJ Snell's Acedia is about acedia. But before he gets to his extended analysis of that vice, he offers a superb, brilliantly brief, ontology and anthropology, drawing on the resources of Trinitarian theology and the book of Genesis. Among other things, Snell emphasizes the gift that is human work, a…

June 4, 2015

On a cloud

John sees one like a son of man on a cloud, holding a sickle (Revelation 14:14). We assume that He's traveling down to reap the harvest, but is that correct? The original for this son-cloud combination if Daniel 7:13, where it is clear that the Son of Man comes up…

June 4, 2015

Ideological art

D avid Goldman ( It's Not the End of the World, It's Just the End of You ) argues that “modern art is ideological, as its proponents are the first to admit. It was the ideologues, namely the critics, who made the reputation of the abstract impressionists, the most famous…

June 3, 2015

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