Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Place names become fraught with meaning by association with people and events. The name “Wittenberg” calls to mind Luther and the Reformation for Protestants and Catholics alike. Geneva has a wider range of associations, but the Reformation Wall, with its four main statues of William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza,…
“…a mystery without a solution, a horror story without savagery, a nightmare in which all the watches stop at noonday…” The Bestial Gardens of Men Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” (Luke 23:30) The following lines by Edgar Allan Poe,…
2 Samuel 11-12, which record David’s sin with Bathsheba and its aftermath, is structured chiastically: This arrangement highlights several things about the episode. It reinforces what is obvious from even a casual reading, that the transition in the story occurs with Nathan’s confrontation of David’s sin and David’s confession. Up…
Medieval bestiaries are packed with quaintly inaccurate information about animals, birds, and other created things. Foxes and snakes are devilish critters; stags, pelicans and elephants are Christlike in their various ways. Of course, the medievals picked this up from the Bible, where bestiary observations are fairly common. “Go to the…
What do Reformational Catholicism and craft beer have in common? The question seems to beg for a punchline. Better yet, it would be pretty good clickbait for an article on Katharina von Bora’s “spirited” contribution that helped spark the Protestant Reformation. Well, this is no joke and I am certainly…
Suffering Defined Suffering happens. We witness it all around us and experience it in our lives. It often comes from forces beyond our control. Suffering is inscrutable; it strikes unexpectedly, on a bright summer day or a cold winter night. We lament and are bewildered by suffering. But we are…
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The Winter 2003-4 issue of Image includes an interview with Gil Baillie that includes this nugget: “I’ve been fascinated by John Paul II’s theology of the body, which I think is a tremendously important contribution to the retrieval of God. To me it’s also filled with a marvelous irony. The…
Also in the April 30 TLS is a review of Nathaniel Philbrick’s book on the South Seas expedition of 1838-1842, sponsored by the U.S. government and placed under the command of Charles Wilkes. It was one of the greatest sea expeditions ever launched: “six ships with a crew of 346…
Also in the April 30 TLS is a review of Nathaniel Philbrick’s book on the South Seas expedition of 1838-1842, sponsored by the U.S. government and placed under the command of Charles Wilkes. It was one of the greatest sea expeditions ever launched: “six ships with a crew of 346…
Two reviews in the April 30 edition of the TLS highlight the continuing influence of Romanticism. Colin Falck’s American and British Verse in the Twentieth Century characterizes romanticism as the effort “to build a spiritual work in the context of a religious dogma that has failed, and a scientific and…
In 1 Kings 2, Bathsheba goes to Solomon to present Adonijah’s request that he be given Abishag for his wife. This is tantamount, Solomon discerns (v 22), to a request for the throne, and yet Bathsheba relays the request. Why? Some have thought her naive or sentimentally maternal, but that…
Here’s a proposal for an outline of Samuel and Kings, considered as a single book. Some of these parallels are more obvious than others, obviously, but there is a sufficient number of links to make the outline plausible. It might also be possible to discern some hints of the creation…
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