Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Paul writes to Jews, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:22b) The English translation “rob temples” makes readers think of pagan temples. There was only one Temple for Israel, so robbing more than one would indicate other temples are in view. And if the Jews wanted to…
Two offerings Humanity’s first vocation involves guarding and serving the trees that emerge from the ground (Genesis 2:15). God provides these trees to humanity for food. A serpent appears and tempts the couple to eat from a special forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Humanity…
At the outset of the Torah (as Christians understand it), a triune God creates the heavens and earth over the course of a seven-day week. Why? What’s the connection between the three and the seven? Could a triune God have created the world over any period of time he chose?…
How relevant to the modern reader are the flying axe head of Deuteronomy 19:5 and the roof parapet of Deuteronomy 22:8? Indeed, how relevant were they to the daily lives of Israelites thirty-five hundred years ago? Suppose that accidental falls from rooftops were exceedingly uncommon in ancient Israel, or that…
1 For most of my life, the standing of the American church as a source of national social and political order was measured by reports from the front of the so-called “culture wars.” 2 Memory brings to mind battles over feminism and the ERA, so-called gay rights, the breakdown of…
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel…’ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the…
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When Yahweh returns to abandoned Zion, she breaks into song. He breaks into poetry (Isaiah 54). He describes Zion as a “woman forsaken and grieved in Spirit, a wife of youth refused” (v. 6). “Forsaken” translates ‘azuvah , and “grieved” translates ‘atzuvat , and the assonance in Hebrew continues, though…
Isaiah sees Zion as a grieving “widow” (Isaiah 54:4). But Yahweh is her husband. Yahweh must have died if she is left in her widowhood. Then he comes back as her ba’al (54:5), her lord and husband, making her a Lady, a be’ulah (54:1). This isn’t merely a separation and…
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Because of the Servant’s work (Isaiah 53), Zion is restored to her husband (54:4-5). That restoration is marked by the outbreak of song (54:1-3) but also by a series of negations. Verse 4 begins with three clauses that all begin with the Hebrew particle lo , “not”: Do not fear,…
This was first published at Credenda.org in March 2010. God is not mocked, Paul tells us. Matthew’s Passion narrative (Matthew 27:27-44), however, suggests otherwise. Matthew gives very little information about the physical sufferings of Jesus. We can imagine those sufferings from the details he records, but he directs our attention…
In a 2006 article, Israeli writer Eyal Weizman describes the Israeli military’s use of contemporary theory to revise military tactics. Weizman says that “the reading lists of contemporary military institutions include works from around 1968 (with a special emphasis on the writings of Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Guy Debord),…
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