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

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Coronavirus

Does Corona Compassion Kill?

The corona virus hit Western society like a Biblical plague — almost. Biblical plagues were actually much more devastating. Still, as Peter Leithart describes the present situation, it is a judgment from God, because the disease itself together with our political solutions brought about a social situation that fits Deuteronomy’s…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 26, 2020
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Theology

Is Theology Useless?

“The achievements of theologians don’t do anything, don’t affect anything, don’t mean anything. What makes anyone think that ‘theology’ is a subject at all?” - Richard Dawkins One cannot be a Christian college president or seminary trustee (your essayist is both) without wondering if Richard Dawkins’s notorious take-down of theology…

by Alexander WhitakerMay 19, 2020
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How to Worship

How Should Churches Respond to One Another?

Nearly every church that I am aware of has adopted differing practices since the recent virus scare began. Some churches continued to meet during the state lock downs, and other churches left their building empty, meeting online through various video conference technologies. Some churches have gone back to life as…

by Jonah BarnesMay 12, 2020
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Fear

Fear

Fear is an inseparable companion of human life. We are afraid of illness and death, poverty and cataclysms, rejection and betrayal, failure and shame. We are afraid of the unknown, so in a sense we are afraid of the future and life itself. Unless we live in the illusory belief…

by Bogumil JarmulakMay 5, 2020
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Heresy

The Blessing of “Heresies”

In the title above, I put the word “heresies” in quotation marks because I would prefer that the word “heresy” be confined to erroneous beliefs about the Trinity and the Person of Christ, rather than be used broadly to describe any view that might be considered an error. 1 At…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 30, 2020
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Fear

On Coping (or not) with a Crisis

I’ve been trying to work out why I’m feeling existentially disconnected from CoV-19-related fears. I’m taking it seriously, but it’s not registering in any deeply personal way. Partly it’s that my routines are largely undisrupted. But as I reflect on people’s reactions I think there’s more, because a lot of…

by Matthew MasonApril 28, 2020

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NICE

In the UK, they’ve got something called the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. CS Lewis called it: There really is an N.I.C.E.

January 15, 2009
Literature

Painful reading

Research for a book project has forced me to read excerpts - as little as possible - of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code . It makes for painful reading, and not only because of Brown’s stupid historical claims. The prose is bad, painfully bad. To read the book is to…

January 14, 2009

Forty-two

When the “young men” of Bethel mock Elisha, he calls out two bears that kill forty-two of them (2 Kings 2:24). Later in 2 Kings, Jehu slaughters forty-two relatives of Ahaziah of Judah during his purge of the house of Ahab (2 Kings 10:14). What’s up with that? The young…

January 14, 2009
History

One Man’s Corruption

Is another man’s government administration. The abstract to a 1981 Annales article on clientage in the late Roman empire by Paul Veyne: “In Fourth-century Rome, official posts were purchased from their holders. For officials, who were the equals of the curials and the ‘barons’ (as the ‘simple soldiers’ ought to…

January 13, 2009
American Religion

Irreplaceable

Richard John Neuhaus was an irreplaceable man. Few public intellectuals ever have expressed themselves with the same warmth, wit, and verve, and few have had the range of experience, interest and insight. How many inner city pastors could also mount a withering attack on Richard Rorty? We will have to…

January 12, 2009

Sermon Notes

INTRODUCTION Jesus has taught His disciples they must become eunuchs ( 19:12 ) and children ( 19:14 ) for the sake of His kingdom. Now, through His encounter with the rich young ruler, He tells them they must also be ready to renounce wealth for His sake. As always, though,…

January 12, 2009

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