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Writing

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

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Pastoral Ministry

Rural Church Growth

I've pastored a very rural church for well over a decade. Our town has about 1,000 people and will never grow until Jesus returns. 38 people attend our worship on Sundays. Here's a quick list of what we’ve done to grow our church, and what I’ve done to survive pastorally.…

by TheopolisAugust 10, 2017
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Art

Letter to a Young Artist

Thanks for sharing so honestly about your current crisis of creativity. I totally understand and relate to that; it’s happened many times in my musical life thus far, and I’ve begun to accept it as a normal rhythm of the creative process. I actually went through a serious dry spell…

by Joel ClarksonAugust 8, 2017
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Biblical Theology

Stones and Fruit: Divination and Procreation – (Part 3)

The Broken Stones of Israel At Sinai, the tablets of the Law of Moses were broken and restored. The Old Testament is a history of “new covenants,” including that promised in Jeremiah and fulfilled in Zechariah. Ultimately, the vertical Oath and the horizontal Sanctions met in the death of Jesus…

by Mike BullAugust 3, 2017
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Isaiah

God's Market, the Church

Woe to the sinful nation. Woe to those who enlarge their estates and build their portfolios. Woe to the drunks. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Woe to the proud who are wise in their own eyes. Woe to Congressmen who pass unjust laws and to…

by Peter LeithartAugust 1, 2017
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Romans

In the Flesh: Then and Now

The interpretation of Romans 7:7-25 is notoriously difficult. Good scholars disagree on many aspects of the passage, but the central interpretative difficulty concerns the identity of the “I.” Is Paul referring to himself? Is Paul referring to himself pre- or post-conversion? Does the “I” refer to Adam? Is the “I”…

by Bill SmithJuly 27, 2017
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How to Worship

The Minister's Uniform

You board the Metra train at Arlington Heights station one afternoon, heading to downtown Chicago for some sight-seeing. As the train departs from the station, a man in jeans, a striped t-shirt, and a Kansas City Royals baseball cap enters your train car, and begins asking to see each passenger’s…

by Jon HerrJuly 25, 2017

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Jeroboam and Saul

In 1 Kings 14, Jeroboam’s wife goes disguised to visit a prophet from Shiloh, who announces the death of her son and the eventual destruction of his dynasty. Ahijah tells Jeroboam’s wife that another king will take the kingdom. In 1 Samuel 28, Saul goes disguised to visit a medium…

January 23, 2005

Eucharistic Meditation, January 23

1 Corinthians 5:7: Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. Jeroboam?s dynasty, and the entire northern kingdom with it, was condemned from the beginning. No sooner had he led Israel out of the ?Egypt?Eof the house of David than he led them into an wilderness of idolatry. As we…

January 23, 2005
Politics

Exhortation, January 23

It looked like such a good idea. Jeroboam has been given ten tribes of Israel to rule, and he wants to keep them together. If the people of Israel continue to worship in the Jerusalem, their loyalties of his people will be divided and they might even plot to assassinate…

January 23, 2005
Literature

Notes on Timon of Athens

A few notes from JE Phillips, The State in Shakespeare’s Greek and Roman Plays . 1) Phillips repeatedly points out that the play depicts corruption flowing from the highest reaches of society downward. The Senators and nobility of Athens are deeply corrupted, unable to recognize and honor true nobility because…

January 23, 2005

NT Wright, Prophet

Speaking of Wright, there is a remarkably prophetic passage early in Jesus and the Victory of God where Wright seems to predict the response of some conservatives to his work. Enlightenment thought deployed history as a weapon to critique and dissolve theology (genealogically). Playing off the parable of the prodigal…

January 23, 2005

Embodied Torah

Basil Studer ( Trinity and Incarnation , pp 36-37) points to the use of biblical titles for Jesus among early Christians influenced by Judaism. Among these is the designation of Jesus as “law” or “covenant”: “the Shepherd of Hermas, the Kerygma Petrou and Justin name Christ as law or covenant”…

January 23, 2005

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