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Writing

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

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Matthew

Fertile Toledots

The Book of Genesis contains eleven distinct markers readily acknowledged as the toledot formula. 1 Commentator Nahum Sarna counts the ’elleh toledot to be “…one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Book of Genesis”. 2 Among translations, the noun is variously translated as “generations” (ESV, KJV), “records of the generations”…

by Ben LoveladyDecember 20, 2022
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Romans

Who was Judah's Wickedest King? (Kings & Romans 1:18ff)

The answer that immediately comes to mind to the question in the title is Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah. He was conceived during the extension of life that God granted Hezekiah in response to his ardent prayer on his sick bed (2 Kings 20:1-11, 21:1). His reign is summarized in…

by Mark HorneDecember 13, 2022
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Ecclesiology

The End of Premium Mediocre Church

Back in 2019, on a whim, I sketched out a setting for a modern fantasy story: a single coffee shop that is simultaneously present in multiple cities throughout the world: “...you know the one. Books by local authors, brochures for a walking tour of the city’s outdoor sculpture, a poetry…

by Tim NicholsDecember 6, 2022
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Colossians

Colossians 4:2, “Watch"

Peter O’Brien’s translation of Colossians 4:2 surprised me: “Persevere in prayer as you watch for the Lord’s return, and be thankful.” 1 What is surprising about that? Well, none of my English translations mentioned “the Lord’s return” — nor does the Greek text! Translated literally, the verse just says: “In…

by Ralph Allan SmithNovember 29, 2022
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Books

The Laws and the Cosmos: A Brief Response to Stephen Wolfe on Cicero

I Natural Law This is a brief (well, briefer than it could be) first attempt at responding to a very small section of Stephen Wolfe’s recent book The Case for Christian Nationalism . It’s partial, deeply incomplete, and does not at all address the book as a whole; it is…

by Susannah Black RobertsNovember 24, 2022
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Formation

A Bad Man Speaking Well

The scuttlebutt of the last hundred years would tell us that Albert Einstein was a horrible husband, Winston Churchill was a racist, Mother Theresa was a hypocrite, and Caravaggio a murderer. From Benjamin Britten’s boys to Gandhi’s girls, it can be depressing and confusing to hear about people of great…

by Garrett SoucyNovember 22, 2022

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History

Essence of history

Rosenzweig ( Judaism Despite Christianity: The 1916 Wartime Correspondence Between Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Franz Rosenzweig , 157) offers this profound rejoinder to the professorial habit of trying to modify the traditional epochs of history: “It is necessary . . . to accept the traditional periods, and to avoid wanting to…

January 16, 2014

One Flesh

Rosenzweig ( Judaism Despite Christianity: The 1916 Wartime Correspondence Between Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Franz Rosenzweig , 115) says that “Only what belongs to both man and woman belongs to all men, and everything else has only sectional interest.” Rosenstock agrees, and elaborates: “The lawyer is the perfect type of male…

January 16, 2014
History

Maimed Emancipation

In one of his wartime letters to Franz Rosenzweig (the correspondence published as Judaism Despite Christianity: The 1916 Wartime Correspondence Between Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Franz Rosenzweig ), Rosenstock challenges the Rosenzweig’s idea that his love for a particular scholar can be a “merely private affair.” Love above all “can’t remain…

January 16, 2014

Newspaper of Record

Rebecca Rosen reports at the Atlantic on a century-long error on the front page of the New York Times. The issue number for the February 6, 1898 edition was 14,499; the next day, the issue number was 15,000. Nobody noticed until 1999. At the beginning of 2000, the newspaper announced…

January 16, 2014
Philosophy

Giving Descartes his Due

In Desire, Dialectic, and Otherness: An Essay on Origins , recently reprinted by Wipf & Stock, William Desmond concedes that “the modern self has been excessively subjectivized” (45). But he thinks that, for all its faults, Cartesianism focused attention on an inescapable philosophical problem: “The Cartesian view has the merit…

January 16, 2014

Bridal land

At the end of Isaiah 61, the prophet (or Zion) rejoices because Yahweh “has clothed me with garments of salvation, and has wrapped me in a robe of righteousness.” The clothing is festal, clothing for a wedding, and Zion is both the garlanded bridegroom and the jeweled bride (v. 10).…

January 16, 2014

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