Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Optimism is “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.” 1 On the other hand, pessimism is “an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome.” We can see that optimism and…
If we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of…
“I chant slips and irreversible disasters, wiltings, failures, scars, the little disappointments and the large, blue streaks down a world that wishes it was only suncolors.” Paul J. Pastor from Kintsugi Song I recently lost something very valuable. Something I’d had for years and used every day. But, it wasn’t…
In his eponymous book, Jonah follows an exodus pattern. He travels through the waves and east of the city into the wilderness. On a first reading, it looks like another use of this common literary shape in the Old Testament: salvation through the waters of death and the wilderness of…
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” The unknowing master of ceremonies didn’t know how right he was. We see this play out in John’s apocalypse. The end is like the beginning,…
Read in isolation, The Test of Adultery (Num 5:11-31) presents the reader with a seemingly bizarre ritual, conjuring up ideas bordering on the Salem Witch Trials. Beyond this, pressing questions linger—such as, “Why is the woman in particular singled out, while no test is provided for the husband of a…
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Sociologists want to present themselves as objective scientists of the social order, but when Christian Smith looks at his disciple he doesn’t see science. He sees the Sacred Project of American Sociology , sociology constituted as a project that he is even willing to describe as “spiritual.” He applies a…
When the sixth trumpet sounds, a voice commands the trumpet angel to let the four angels at the corners of the land go (Revelation 9:13-14). The following lines are a neatly parallel command-and-response. First the command: a. Loose b. the four angels c. who are bound d. at the river,…
Paul’s use of the notion of “flesh” has long been puzzling. He is no gnostic, but he seems to have a hostility to “flesh.” His condemnation is so strong that some translations have sidestepped the problem by glossing sarx (flesh) as “sinful nature.” It’s a bad translation, and bad theology.…
A recent report on research by the Federal Reserve of St Louis found that “Over the course of a 30-year career, mothers outperformed women without children at almost every stage of the game. In fact, mothers with at least two kids were the most productive of all.” The results were…
John sees the glorified Jesus at the beginning of Revelation, and described his clothing and then his figure in some detail. Jesus commissions him to write. In chapter 10, a similar figure appears holding a book, and instructs John to eat then then to prophesy. Though the figure descending from…
John sees two scenes in Revelation 9: A swarm of macabre cherubim arises from the abyss, and then four angels are permitted to release a massive army from the Euphrates. Both armies are described in some detail, and the organization of the descriptions are intricately structured. This post furthers some…
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