Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The chronology of the Kings of Judah and Israel can be divided into three periods with clearly defined boundaries. The first period begins with the death of Solomon and the accessions of Rehoboam in the south (Judah) and Jeroboam in the north (Israel). It ends with the deaths of Ahaziah…
Most modern people regard the arts as essentially decorative. They are hardly very important, as compared to business, politics, or religion. Yet, from a Biblical point of view, the arts lie close to the heart of human life. The universe that God created is itself an artistic masterpiece by the…
Before we move into a detailed survey of the history and chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah, let us review the chronological information that leads from creation to the kingdom. This will be helpful both to new readers of these essays, and a reminder for those who have…
We have completed our overall survey of Biblical chronology, and now turn to a detailed examination of the Biblical information regarding the chronology of Israel’s kings. The first piece of chronological information we have regarding Israel’s kings is very cryptic, and it serves as an guide to the interpretation of…
Jonathan Z. Smith, To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987). Reviewed by Peter J. Leithart. The philosophes of the 18th century often attacked Christendom using the tools of anthropology and comparative religion. Rousseau contrasted the idyllic equality of primitive, natural peoples with the bondage…
Valerie I. J. Flint, The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe (Princeton University Press, 1991). Reviewed by Peter J. Leithart. Valerie I. J. Flint, Professor of History at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, is refreshingly candid about her reasons for undertaking a study of The Rise of Magic…
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Alec Ryrie portrays what it meant to be an early Protestant in his Being Protestant in Reformation Britain . As the TLS reviewer points out, this is no longer a fashionable question: “Historians of the early Reformation now prefer to use the term ‘evangelicals,’ in recognition of the fact that…
Greeks expressed their gratitude, FS Naiden notes ( Smoke Signals for the Gods ), with sacrifice: “Helliodorus, hellenizing his Phoenicians, says that Tyrians used such a formula after one of their number won at the Pythian games. Returning home with the victor, they sacrificed at the seaside, niketerion and charisterion,…
Many classicists suggest that Greek sacrifice was mechanical and automatic. One of the burdens of Naiden’s Smoke Signals for the Gods is to show otherwise. Sacrifices were only acceptable to the gods if the worshiper was ritually and morally pure. Naiden quoted Antiphon: “Many people with unclean hands or some…
Jesus commends the church at Ephesus for works, toil, and perseverance, for their rigorous testing of pretended apostles (Revelation 2:2-3). But then He lodges a stunning charge: They have left their first love ( ten agapen sou ten proten aphekes ). What does that mean? Agape in the New Testament…
When John sees Jesus in glory (Revelation 1:9-20), he describes him from head to toe and back (vv. 14-16). It’s a wasf , a blazon, like the descriptions of the Song of Songs. Jesus is the Lover, and He commissions John as His amanuensis to write love letters to His…
The translation of the name Yahweh into Greek as ho on , “the One who is,” has been seen as a Platonizing or Hellenizing move. Sean McDonough ( YHWH at Patmos , 194) demurs: “God’s declaration of his name, ‘I am who I am,’ served as a natural bridge between…
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