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

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Biblical Horizons

The Sin of Ham and the Curse of Canaan, Part 1

The history of the sin of Ham and the curse of Canaan comes in the middle of the Generations of Noah, a section of Genesis that begins at Genesis 6:9 and extends to the closing notice, Genesis 11:9. To understand the story better, it is necessary to get in mind…

by James B. JordanJune 3, 1997
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Eucharist

You and Your Son and Daughter: Christ’s Communion with Young Children

This paper was written to persuade people who were members of the Presbyterian Church in America. It should be accessible to anyone who believes in baptizing infants–especially to those who consider themselves a part of the Reformation Tradition. References to “our Confession” or “our standards” invoke the Westmeinster Confession of…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 1997
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Baptism

The Westminster Standards & Sacramental Efficacy

Version 1.2 I write this brief essay in order to address a problem I have encountered. I keep reading explanations of doctrine of the sacraments fundamentally empty of the content which was once held by virtually all Reformed confessions and formulations. Furthermore, I read explanations and commentaries on the Westminster…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 1997
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Biblical Chronology

John Sailhamer Weighs In, Part 2

We continue our analysis of John Sailhamer’s book *Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account* (Multnomah Books, 1996), which argues that Genesis 1:2ff. is not about the creation of the whole world, but about the preparation of the Land of Eden, which is also the Promised Land.…

by James B. JordanMay 31, 1997
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Matthew

Toward a Chiastic Understanding of the Gospel According to Matthew, Part 2

III. Death of God’s Firstborn in the real Egypt: This huge chiasm has as its center the betrayal of Peter, as the leader of the disciples himself rejects Jesus. Peter holds an oficial position as high priest among the disciples of the incarnate Lord. His rejection of Jesus is the…

by James B. JordanMay 31, 1997
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Eucharist

A Response to Rev. Bacon’s Argument that Manna was not a Sacrament

I wrote a response to Rev. Richard Bacon’s tract, What Mean Ye by This Service , a copy of which I borrowed from the library at Covenant Theological Seminary. However, I recently discovered that a new appendix was added to the version available on the Blue Banner’s web page. This…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 1997

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History

Hospitality

For us, hospitality usually means entertaining. It means having our friends and neighbors and church members into the home. Sometimes, in our world, it involves jockeying for position and power by showing hospitality to the right kinds of people. That’s how the rich and famous create and sustain the aura…

March 24, 2007

Obscene dancing

The London Times fulminates: “It is quite sufficient to cast one’s eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs, and close compressure of the bodies, in this dance, to see that it is far indeed removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So…

March 22, 2007

Christ and Horrors

Marilyn McCord Adams ( Christ and Horrors , Cambridge, 2006) proposes to demonstrate the coherence of Christology not by starting with sin and explaining how Christ has dealt with sin, but by starting with “horrors” and asking, What must Christ be and do if He is going to rescue us…

March 22, 2007
History

The Alexandrian West

In her book on medieval Bible scholarship, Beryl Smalley notes that “Alexandrian exegesis penetrated to the Latin middle ages, when knowledge of Greek had declined, by two main channels: indirectly through the Latin Fathers and directly through translations of Origen’s works. Rufinus’ translations of some of his homilies were used…

March 22, 2007

Allegory and empire

Philo thought of allegory as a means for universalizing Jewish history and law, analogous to the way the Roman world had fused all peoples into a single empire. Literalists are “citizens of a petty state,” while allegorists are “on the roll of citizens of a greater country, namely, this whole…

March 21, 2007

Androgynous numbers

Why did God create the world in six days? Philo said that 6 is the perfect number, both the sum and the product of its factors, which happen to be the first three integers (1, 2, 3). But there’s more: “We may say that [6] is in its nature both…

March 21, 2007

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