Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Matthew 8-9 records three clusters of miracles, interspersed with snatches of Jesus’ teaching about various aspects of discipleship. Just as the Sermon on the Mount displays the authority of Jesus’ Word in teaching, these chapters display the authority of Jesus’ Word over sickness, uncleanness, the creation, demons, and death. In…
Since the early 1980s, several of the conservative Reformed Churches have debated and wrestled with the issue of paedocommunion (infant communion). The PCA and the OPC assigned study committees to examine the question, both of which produced useful reports both in support of and against the position. Though the debate…
(This issue of Biblical Chronology concludes a discussion of the Biblical and Assyrian chronologies, begun in previous posts. Click on the category link of "Biblical Chronology" above to see previous issues. Did Shalmaneser Know Jehu? Allis writes: "The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser contains, in addition to brief accounts of the…
Movies Movies as an art form have a powerful impact because they take place in a dark room, on a large screen, with no distractions, and because they entail many of the arts: music, acting, choreography, design and color, etc. A movie can be an overwhelming experience for a young…
The Hebrew word translated as "grain offering" or "cereal offering" is minchah . Like the translation of `olah as "burnt offering," the translation of minchah as "grain offering" is somewhat deceiving, since minchah does not refer to grain or cereal. In liturgical contexts outside of Leviticus, in fact, the word…
"He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces" (Leviticus 1:6). The normal word ( `olah ) that is translated as "burnt offering" and "whole burnt offering" has nothing to do with either burning or wholeness. It is the noun form of a verb meaning "to…
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James Jordan has suggested that the vision of new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-22:5) is arranged as a chiastic recasting of the creation week: A. Day 1: Light in the city, 21:10-11 B. Day 2: Boundaries and measurements of the city, 21:12-17 C. Day 3: Materials of the city, 21:18-21 D. Day…
The verb “show” ( deiknuo ) occurs eight times in Revelation, and the eight uses fall into a neat pattern. Twice at the beginning (1:1; 4:1) and twice at the end (22:6, 8), the verb is used with a generic object. God shows “things which must shortly take place” (1:1;…
In an essay on “barriers and bridges” in American religion, Stephen Warner emphasizes the role of music in building bridges, forging solidarity without requiring assent to a common set of propositions. He offers a florilegium of quotations from various scholars: “At an emotional level, there is something ‘deeper' about hearing…
William H. McNeill's Keeping Together in Time explores the role of “emotional bonding through rhythmic muscular movement” in history (52). The significance of the phenomenon occurred to him during military training in 1941: “A sense of pervasive movement in unison is what I recall; more specifically, strange sense of personal…
The final chapter of the Bible (Revelation 22:6-21) is a rapid series of speeches and dialogues, structured in fourfold parallelism. Each new section introduces a new speaker or speech with some form of “he said.” The speakers move from an angel to Jesus to the Spirit and bride. The chapter…
In a 2007 Bibliotheca Sacra article, Mark Hitchcock examines various theories about the identity of the seven heads of the beast in Revelation 17:9-11. It's been proposed that the number seven is purely symbolic of fulness, and that the heads are not to be identified with any historical characters. Hitchcock's…
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