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Writing

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

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Biblical Studies

The Beatitudes and Woes

Mrs. Marguerite Lane of Grand Rapids writes to ask if I have ever noticed a correlation between the eight beatitudes of Matthew 5 and the eight woes of Matthew 23. I confess that I have not. A glance at various commentators reveals that such a correspondence does not seem to…

by James B. JordanMay 15, 1989
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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 1

1. The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, the burden. The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: 2. Surely I am more stupid than any other man, And I do not have the understanding of a man. 3. And I have not learned wisdom, But I have…

by James B. JordanMay 15, 1989
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Biblical Studies

The Problem of Psalm 137

Psalm 137 is widely regarded as one of the meanest of the imprecatory psalms. Certainly as we read it it is seems to be a song of pure vengeance. The exiles in Babylon, in grief over the judgment that Babylon has brought upon them, pray for the destruction of that…

by James B. JordanApril 15, 1989
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Biblical Studies

The Thigh of the Peace Offering

In the Levitical law, the priests received two particular portions of each peace offering: the "wave offering" of the breast and the "heave offering" (or better, "contribution") of the right thigh. The purpose of this essay is to attempt to determine the reason why the second of these, the thigh,…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1989
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Biblical Studies

The Son of Joseph

The story of Jesus’ visit, early in His ministry, to the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth is recorded for us in Luke 4:16-30. You may remember that Jesus read from Isaiah about how the Messiah would preach the gospel, care for the poor, work miracles, and bring in…

by James B. JordanApril 12, 1989
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Biblical Horizons

"Do This!"

(The essay that follows concerns a rather touchy subject: how the Lord’s Supper is to be done. I am not writing to insult or offend, but to challenge. To that end I have not "held back" but have "gone ahead" and said what I think needs to be said —…

by James B. JordanMarch 12, 1989
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How Jesus Saved the World

The first part of a Lenten meditation on John’s Passion narrative by Pastor Jeff Meyers at the Trinity House site.

February 20, 2013
Politics

Normative events

Some years ago it struck me how much current political opinion and theory depend on appeals to normative events. We can’t do or say X because of the Holocaust, or because of Fascism, or because of the Civil Rights Act. Events close off certain political and moral options. This mode…

February 20, 2013

Natural law and Supernatural ends

In the current issue of First Things , David Bentley Hart expresses his skepticism of “the attempt om recent years by certain self-described Thomists, particularly in America, to import [natural law] tradition into public policy debates.” He has in mind the idea that “compelling moral truths can be deduced from…

February 20, 2013

Lovers of the Poor

Summarizing the work of Peter Brown, James Davison Hunter ( To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World , 55) points to the crucial connection between Christian attitudes toward the poor and the transformation of Roman society: Prior to Christianity, the poor…

February 19, 2013
Music

Ears to Hear

Trinity Reformed Church recently had Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio out to Moscow for a series of lectures on music. They were spectacular, and are now available online at Canon Wired .

February 19, 2013

Allegorical proof

It’s a truism of Protestant biblical hermeneutics that, whatever else you might be able to do with allegories and typologies, you cannot use them to prove doctrine. “Allegories are fine ornaments, but not of proof,” Luther said in The Table Talk of Martin Luther . Paul never learned this rule.…

February 19, 2013

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