Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
References to the Son of Man coming on the clouds occur five times in the Synoptic Gospels. Three times such expressions appear in the parallel accounts of the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:36; Luke 21:27). Then, in parallel accounts of Jesus’ trial before the leaders of Israel, such expressions…
Just what the difference is in the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and the New Testament is a question not so easily answered. The distinction is often said to be that in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is on the believer, but in the New…
1. Introduction You should think of 1917 at church on Sunday. Why? Let me explain. There's one film every Oscar season which everyone seems to have watched—your parents, your colleagues, even your pastor. This year, it's 1917— Sam Mendes' WW1 epic following two British Tommies on a seemingly impossible quest…
This piece was originally part of the Bowyer response to the Theopolis series surrounding Professor McDermott’s essay, “Rethinking Israel.” For the sake of brevity, it was removed from the initial response, to be published as a standalone piece. As we’ve argued previously , we are strongly supportive of the right…
Richard Bauckham’s groundbreaking work, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony , is profoundly insightful, but the message of the book is hampered by the presupposition of Marcan priority. Ironically the place where this assumption perhaps does its most damage is in Bauckham’s discussion of the apostle Matthew…
The Protestant Reformation was defined by certain clarifying disagreements between the medieval Church and those who came to be known as Protestant Reformers. Chief among these was the nature of justification: whether one was justified by works, or by faith and works, or—as Martin Luther contended—by faith alone. Now over…
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In his monograph on Divine Simplicity , Steven J. Duby discusses the relation between metaphysics and dogmatics. He writes, "In addition to Thomas's metaphysics, the metaphysical works of Bartholomaus Keckermann, Johann Alsted, and Johannes Maccovius provide guidance here. For Keckermann, metaphysics is 'the science of being [ entis ], or…
Wesley Bergen's Reading Ritual explores Leviticus through the lens of contemporary popular culture. Instead of treating Leviticus as "religious" ritual in opposition to daily life, he tries to de-de-familiarize Leviticus ritual by finding parallels with contemporary culture. In the first chapter, he examines the ritual dimensions of a meat-packing plant,…
In the third volume of his magisterial Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics , Richard Muller offers a helpful summary of pre-Reformation discussions of divine simplicity. Today, simplicity is making a comeback, taken as essential to orthodoxy. Muller's discussion is a healthy reminder that "the doctrine of divine simplicity has not always been…
In Can We Trust the Gospels? , Peter J. Williams, Principal at Tyndale House, Cambridge, doesn't aim to prove that the gospels are true. He wants to show rather that "they can be rationally trusted" (120). If successful, this demonstration is a big deal, as Williams says on the closing…
Literally, woodenly translated, the 9th Word is: "Thou shalt not answer ( 'anah ) with/against your neighbor a false witness." The verb 'anah is of interest, mainly because it is such an uninteresting word. Of the 300+ times it's used in the Old Testament, the KJV translates it as "answer"…
Children provide a test case for psychological and epistemological theories. Many theories fail: They do not suffer the little children to come to them. That's part of the point of Vasudevi Reddy's fascinating How Infants Know Minds . The title contains the thesis: Infants know other minds. They don't act…
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