Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
“And it shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they shall say no more, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.’ And it shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor…
Elsewhere, I have argued that there is grace in the so-called covenant of works (see, e.g., my colloquium essay, “A Response to ‘The Biblical Plan of Salvation,’” in The Auburn Avenue Theology: Pros and Cons , edited by Calvin Beisner (pages 118-148). It may be equally surprising to find justice…
Years ago, as a layman, I had the privilege of attending a Bible study led by a gifted teacher. His story was interesting: back when he was a student he had been severely sanctioned for affirming that one must repent in order to be saved, that one must trust Jesus…
Believing that God really exists Defining “faith” is sometimes made too complicated. The theologian, Louis Berkhof, for example, distinguishes “faith in general” from “faith in the religious sense and particularly saving faith.” Berkhof’s core definition of saving faith is not so bad. He says that it is “a certain conviction,…
It is generally acknowledged that when Paul wrote letters to churches, he expected his letters to be read in the worship service to the congregation. It is interesting, then, that when Paul wrote letters to a congregation he could feel free to address children and tell them to obey their…
Book 4 of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is a classic work of ecclesiology. This book is the longest section of the Institutes , showing Calvin’s deep interest in and love for the church. Among its many salutary features is a full scale exposition of those ecclesiastical leaders Calvin…
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Speech exists that we may "lovingly create names," writes Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy ( In the Cross of Reality , 149). "Speaking is always courting" (149). Courtrooms exist for those times when speech falters. In a courtroom, speech turns from courtship to dispute and this setting changes the character of speech: "In…
Jay Zysk's Shadow and Substance is a recent contribution to a growing literature linking early modern theology with early modern drama. Zysk focuses on the ways Reformation disputes about the Eucharist play into plays, how Eucharistic semiotics shapes understandings of bodies and signs, flesh and spirit, letter and figure, words…
For Luther, faith isn't mere assent to truth, nor even confidence and trust in a distant savior. As David Fink puts it, "Faith . . . becomes the unitive force," or, in Luther's words, it "takes hold of Christ and has Him present, enclosing Him as the ring encloses a…
In his analysis of Luther's treatment of Galatians (in Reformation Readings of Paul ), David Fink gives a brief overview of pre-Reformation interpretations of the letter. Jerome said that the letter "is concerned especially with establishing the 'cessation of the old Law and the introduction of the new Law.'" Jerome…
Vico's claim that verum et factum convertuntur , "the true and the made are convertible," has been taken as a sign of the foundational atheism of modernity. Benedict XVI sees Vico's claim as a secularization, a turn from the uncreated truth that is God to constructed human things. As Robert…
"Liberals and communists," writes Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy ( In the Cross of Reality ), "have in common that they wish to make do without church and dogma, and indeed without faith. . . . reason is enough, for we can say what we think" (141). Both retain the term "believe," but…
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