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Writing

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

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Interview

The Way My Story Goes: Interview with Singer-Songwriter Jamie Soles

Jamie Soles is the reason I know my way around a guitar. When my guitar teacher put the sheet music for Eine Kleine Nachtmusick in my fourteen-year-old hands, I balked. He gave me “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” I learned half of it. At home, I ignored my teacher’s instructions and tugged…

by Christian LeithartMarch 12, 2019
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Epistemology

The Mother’s Smile: Integrative Beauty

This is a tough era for mothers. Regard for mothers, while it is always booming in some circles, is decidedly lacking in the prevailing winds of the milieu. In high demand by contrast is contribution to the work force, being a consumer, and basic economic survival, often as a solitary…

by Esther Lightcap MeekMarch 5, 2019
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Epistemology

Seeking Integration in a Fragmented World: D.C. Schindler: Are You Open to the Heart of Things?

After the dark quiet of the year’s beginning, I return now to pick up the threads of my reflection on integration. This is my own personal inquiry, and for me it is no academic exercise but rather the forefront of my personal quest for the real. My hope is that…

by Esther Lightcap MeekFebruary 26, 2019
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Chiasm

The Chiastic Structure of Lord of the Rings

The chiastic structure of The Hobbit we considered in the previous essay is highly suggestive of what might lie in store for The Lord of the Rings saga. It is undoubtedly the case that J. R. R. Tolkien was a literary craftsman. It may even be the case he is…

by Kelly KerrFebruary 19, 2019
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Chiasm

The Chiastic Structure of the Hobbit

Structure plays an important part of any literary work, whether poetry or prose. It adds to the beauty and depth of the work and allows insight to be gained about what the author is trying to communicate. The question that concerns us here is whether or not there exists an…

by Kelly KerrFebruary 5, 2019
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Movies

Learning the Language of Arrival

Can we learn to communicate from an outside intelligence? Spoiler Alert! If you have not yet seen the movie, this article may provide you with a great deal more information than you wished to know at this point. Since the 1999 film The Matrix received careful scrutiny on many fronts…

by Eric RobinsonJanuary 29, 2019

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Philosophy and Purity

Socrates claimed that the aim of philosophers was “to practice for dying and death,” and this means that the philosopher must be eager for death all his life and face his eventual death as with equanimity. Preparation for death involves dying before death, and this is a process of purification…

July 8, 2014

Genealogy of “Ritual”

“Ritual” wasn’t a hooray term in early Protestantism. Catholics had their rituals and ceremoniousness, and Protestants had little interest. Yet it was a Scot, and a professor of divinity, Robertson Smith, who first focused scholarly attention on the phenomenon. As Jan Bremmer points out in his contribution to Ansichten griechischer…

July 8, 2014
Music

Sacred Music in Secular Society

Jonathan Arnold’s Sacred Music in Secular Society poses a question and offers an answer. Sacred music is popular: Witness the sales of chant albums, the popularity of the Tallis Scholars, the Sixteen, and other groups.The question is why music composed for liturgy or with liturgical interests, music once used in…

July 8, 2014

Not All Heroes

US Army Captain Benjamin Summers warns against hero-inflation in a piece in the Washington Post : “Many veterans deserve high praise for their heroism, but others of us do not. Infantrymen who put their lives on the line for a mission, aircrews who flew into harm’s way to evacuate the…

July 8, 2014

Abram’s Prophetic Call

Abraham is the first man in the Bible who is called a “prophet” (Genesis 20:7). A prophet, Abraham Heschel pointed out, is a member of Yahweh’s council, an officer of the court who listens in on the proceedings and has the privilege of the floor. Fittingly, Abraham is called “prophet”…

July 8, 2014

Germanic Jesus

My friends at Romans Road Media have posted a brief essay of mine on the penetration of Christianity into Germanic literature. While you’re there, check out some of the educational resources, especially the video courses on Old Western Culture taught by Wes Calihan.

July 8, 2014

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