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Writing

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

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Acts

No One Dared Join Them

And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. Acts 5:12-13 When Grandma needed healing, her children knew the…

by Tim NicholsAugust 31, 2021
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How to Worship

Why Sacraments?

Like certain kinds of music, the unchanging rhythm of Aquinas's Summa gets into your bones. Read a few sections and it begins to run through your head. You start drumming your fingers, humming, swaying gently to the rhythm of Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, “It seems-On the contrary-I answer.” The only…

by Peter LeithartAugust 26, 2021
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Biblical Chronology

The Embarrassment of Biblical Chronology

And Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah . . . And Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber . . . and Eber lived thirty-four years and became the father of Peleg . . . and Peleg lived thirty years, and became the…

by James B. JordanAugust 24, 2021
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Hermeneutics

The Fall of Satan

Of course, the title should be something like, “The Fall of the Angel Who Came to be Satan,” but that and other more accurate titles are too cumbersome. The question is: who is Satan, and when and how did he become “Satan” (Adversary, Accuser) and the “devil” (slanderer)? By my…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 19, 2021
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Baptism

Baptismal Rain and the Feast of Booths

In The Oddness of the Feast of Booths , we saw that the Feast of Booths is a commemoration of the first encampment of Israel at Sukkoth (Booths) in Exodus 12:37, almost certainly the first celebration of the week of Unleavened Bread after the first Passover. The Feast of Booths…

by James B. JordanAugust 17, 2021
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Proverbs

An Antidote for Yuppie Postmillennialism

This piece was originally published in 1989. 1. The Blessed Hope "Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Titus 2:13 I was recently asked how I as a postmillennialist would preach on "The Blessed Hope." This is often…

by James B. JordanAugust 12, 2021

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Adam in Romans 1

Morna Hooker’s classic article “Adam in Romans 1” gets a basic point right: Adam is a model of fall into idolatry that Paul outlines. She also gets some things wrong. First, strangely, though she acknowledges the link between Romans 1 and Psalm 106, she never develops the point by noting…

March 16, 2009
Media

Down with Facebook

Matt Labash has a hilarious send-up of Facebook (on which I am not) in the latest issue of the Weekly Standard . It’s a massive target: “Facebook had just added its 150-millionth member and since last August is signing up 374,000 people each day. It has achieved absolute critical mass,…

March 16, 2009

Sensual Spirit

In a superb 2003 article in JETS Stephen Guthrie examines the role of singing in worship, working out some stirring pneumatological reflections on Paul’s exhortation to sing Psalms in Ephesians 5. He notes that Paul’s exhortation occurs in the context of a contrast of the children of light and the…

March 16, 2009

Church and war

In an essay on the “authority of the church in temporal matters,” de Lubac writes, “Since the supernatural is not separated from nature, and the spiritual is always mixed wtih the temporal, the Chuch has eminent authority - always in proportion to the spiritual element present - over everything, without…

March 12, 2009

Veil and the Gentiles

A thought from a student exam: In Mark’s gospel, as soon as the veil of the temple is torn, the centurion confesses Jesus as Son of God. It’s a crucial scene because it’s the first time any human recognizes Jesus as Son. And the sequence of veil and confession is…

March 12, 2009

Holding Hands

Judith Evans Grubbs notes that the Antonine Roman emperors pursued a pro-family agenda, employing pro-family numismatic symbols for that purpose: In addition to the use of the goddess Pudicitia, “also celebrated on Antonine coins is the concordia (sense of harmony, agreement) shared by the emperor and his wife, symbolized by…

March 11, 2009

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