Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
It is commonly held in Reformed thought that the Noahic Covenant is given to all men equally. The Noahic Covenant concerns "man," not simply "church," and establishes civil government as an institution among "mankind" — that is the theory. Sometimes the Noahic Covenant is regarded as a "covenant of common…
The Fall of Jerusalem we have dated (provisionally) at 3426 Anno Mundi. In current B.C. dates this is 586 B.C. From this point forward in Biblical chronology we are required to make use of prophetic numbers rather than historical ones. Jeremiah prophesied that the captivity would last 70 years, but…
Evangelicals have in recent years become more interested in looking into their Bibles for wisdom to deal with modern problems. This is undoubtedly a welcome development, after many years of neglect. But there are dangers and costs as well. One of these is the tendency to fall into a modern…
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The famous definition of faith with which the eleventh chapter of Hebrews opens has received a number of different interpretations. The crux of the problem is the interpretation of the words translated in…
15. The leech has two daughters, "Give," "Give." There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, "Enough": 16. Sheol, And the barren womb, Earth, that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, "Enough." We are assuming, at least for the purposes…
As we have seen in previous installments in this series, the Old Testament is quite concerned with chronology, and carefully records chronological data for our use. For this reason, we can assume when we come to the chronology of the kings of Judah and Israel that the writers of the…
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Robin Lane Fox ( Pagans and Christians ) summarizes Constantine’s telling of the story of Daniel: In the court of Cambyses, Daniel “worked his miracles and prayed intently three times a day. The Magi became jealous of this new superior, and so he cast him to lions in the royal…
That’s how Stroumsa describes early Christianity, because of its preference for the small, portable codex over the traditional, sacred but quite cumbersome scroll. The codex had practical advantages, but Stroumsa thinks that something else was at work: “In going against all religious and cultural norms, the Christians manifestly knew that…
Guy Stroumsa’s book, The End of Sacrifice (just released from the University of Chicago) is small in size but raises huge questions. Based on lectures delivered at the College de France, Stroumsa’s book examines religious, religio-political and religio-anthropological shifts during the first centuries after Christ. He sees several new emphases…
Eusebius ( Gospel Preparation , 4.17) charges that human sacrifice was regularly practiced by ancient peoples: “And whether it is Phylarchus, or any one else, who records that all the Greeks, before going out to their wars, offer a human sacrifice, do not thou hesitate to take him also as…
Aristotle defined magnanimity or “great-mindedness” as a proper estimate of one’s merits: “The Great-minded man is then, as far as greatness is concerned, at the summit, but in respect of propriety he is in the mean, because he estimates himself at his real value (the other characters respectively are in…
In his Oration to the Saints , Constantine repeats the patristic commonplace that Greek philosophy owed a debt to Moses: “Moses excelled his predecessors in wisdom to such a degree that even those who were praised by the nations as wise men and philosophers came to emulate his wisdom. For…
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