Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The debate over paedocommunion does not seem to have made much headway on either side in recent years. Certainly both sides have made a solid effort to argue for their position. But no resolution seems to be forthcoming in the near future. As a convinced paedocommunionist, I find the church’s…
How do covenant and election relate to one another? There are many issues of semantics that enter into this discussion and many issues of real substance, so we need to be careful. If we oversimplify, we can say that election relates to God’s eternal plan to save a people for…
Shortly after the Last Supper and before his final arrest, Jesus said these words to his remaining eleven faithful disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit…
Was Caleb saved by faith or works? Caleb is just one of many thousands of Hebrews who entered the Promised Land after spending years in the wilderness being led by Moses. God had delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and gave them a law at Mount Sinai based on…
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5.7) So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of…
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6.1-3). Honor your father and your mother, that your…
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WHC Frend ( Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Stories of Faith & Fame) , 18-19) explains some of the remarkable resemblances between the account of the martyrs of Lyons (177) and the accounts of Maccabean martyrs: “The most obvious point of contact between the two is the identification…
Celsus, the opponent of Origen, believed in martyrdom: “If you happen to be a worshipper of God and someone commands you either to act blasphemously or to say some other disgraceful thing, you ought not to put any trust in him at all. Rather than this you must remain firm…
Philo waxes Virgillian in his celebration of Augustus’ victory at Actium (31 B.C.): “European and Asian nations from the ends of the earth had risen up and were engaged in grim warfare, fighting with armies and fleets on every land and sea, so that almost the whole human race would…
Reflecting on the Haustafeln in Ephesians 4-5, John Paul observes ( Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body , 474-5) that Paul’s instructions overlap with customary family advice in the Greco-Roman world. More important than detailed differences is the fact that Paul places marriage and family…
It is difficult to overestimate the impact that Peter Leithart had on my formation as a student and a fledgling scholar. When I first arrived in Dr. Leithart’s classroom, I was largely unprepared to approach theological and biblical texts with the sort of patience and precision that they deserved. Throughout…
A student, Leta Sundet, gave a presentation today about gratitude in Isak Dinesen’s story, Babette’s Feast . One of the things that hit home was the fact that the disaffected members of the little religious community are reconciled when by a bodily act - by beginning to use their taste…
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