Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
> Dave, > Jason > > I am surprised this is so hard for me to communicate effectively. Prosecuting Leithart while inwardly struggling with my questions was easy, because the issue was NEVER “Whose views are correct?” In a Reformed denomination we all operate under the supposition that our doctrinal…
Discussions on the catholicity of the church have led one RC advocate to write to me that according to 2 Timothy 1:16-18, Paul is clearly and unmistakably praying for a dead person. He points to a couple of Protestant writers who had agreed with this, though they are in a…
The great True Catholic historian, Philip Schaff, points out as regards the beginning of prayers to the saints in the post-Nicene Church: Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Volume III, Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity A.D. 311-390, P. 409-427). In the first three centuries the veneration of the martyrs in…
The Nicene Creed states that the Holy Spirit “spoke through the prophets in (or into) one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” Contrary to usual translations, neither the Greek nor the Latin originals say “ I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” As written, the thought of the authors…
One of the latest sectarian movements to arise around the fringes of the Christian religion is something called “family integrated churches.” What this seems to mean, depending on the advocate, is that youth groups are bad, age-segregated Sunday Schools are bad, families need to sit together in church, and even…
This series of post were originally published at the Biblical Horizons blog. The entire paper can be downloaded HERE . 8. Comments on The Covenantal Gospel by Cornelis van der Waal This is an excellent book, and every Bible student should read and master it. Cornelis van der Waal was…
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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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