Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Mystical theologians are often unguarded, extreme, un-nuanced, pressing to the edges of heresy, sometimes beyond. Still, the mystics are worthy of study. Why? Many reasons. Unlike some late medieval and post-Reformation dogmaticians, mystical theologians are often instinctively and richly Trinitarian. Historical-critical approaches to Scripture left mystical theologians virtually untouched; mystics…
Portia of Belmont is a “lady richly left,” as Bassanio says of her in the first Act of The Merchant of Venice . Plus, she’s beautiful and wise. Suitors clamber to Belmont in hope. Her father knew it would be so, and in his will set up a fairy-tale test…
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In the nature of the case, “the” Christian meditation on Deuteronomy 14:1-21 cannot be written. Meditation offers too many possibilities, opens too many doors. There is not one and only one correct set of associations for a Christian to consider when thinking of Deuteronomy 14:1-21. We could, for example, consider…
Having retold the story of the cumulative sin of Israel leading to the great atonement on the cross, Paul then reemphasizes that, just as both Jew and Gentiles were locked into sin and judgment, now they are both justified by faith: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.…
Deuteronomy 14 is full of allusions to events of Israel’s history and other portions of Scripture. What would an Israelite learn by mediation on these allusions? The answer, I believe, is at least fourfold. Faith, Worship, War For the ancient Israelite first hearing Moses’ sermon, or perhaps hearing it read…
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Deuteronomy and Exodus contradict one another regarding the visibility of God, says Margaret Barker in Temple Mysticism (p. 2). Moses reminds the Israelites, “you heard the sound of words but saw no form” (Deuteronomy 4:12). Exodus 24:10, though, says that Moses and the elders “saw the God of Israel” while…
A favorite passage from Emma . Mrs. Elton is picking strawberries: “The best fruit in England — everybody’s favourite — always wholesome. These the finest beds and finest sorts. Delightful to gather for oneself — the only way of really enjoying them. Morning decidedly the best time — never tired…
My review of Laura Mooneyham White’s Jane Austen’s Anglicanism (2011), first published in Credenda Agenda about a year ago. “She was thoroughly religious and devout,” wrote Rev. Henry Austen soon after the death of his beloved sister. Brother James, also an Anglican minister and a poet, added “Hers, Fancy quick,…
January 29, 1813, the day after Pride and Prejudice was published, Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra. It’s the first critique of the book, as Austen beats the reviewers to the punch: She mentioned a friend who “really does seem to admire Elizabeth,:” and adds: “I must confess that…
My favorite passage from Northanger Abbey (Dover Thrift Editions) . Henry Tilney has taken upon himself to instruct Catherine Morland about the aesthetics and the theory of the picturesque: “Delighted with [Catherine’s] progress, and fearful of wearying her with too much wisdom at once, Henry suffered the subject to decline,…
Colossians 1:17: He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Pastor Sumpter has said it all: Jesus is enough. If you have Jesus, you have everything you could ever want, more than you could ever need. If you have Jesus, you have knowledge of the will…
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