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Writing

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

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City

The City of Cain

Not long ago, I heard these statistics about New York City: New York City is in $100 billion in debt. 20% of all NYC residents are on food stamps, which cost $250 million a month. 5% of NYC population are on disability, costing $252 million a month. Other assistance costs…

by Richard BledsoeJune 25, 2020
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Empire

Twenty-Five Theses on Empire

1. All political power is ambivalent. Vertical violence of “the state” tends to limit horizontal and contested power between people and between tribes. “The State” brings new oppression, but also a measure of new peace and unity. 2. All political formations are ambiguous like this: a strong family conquers weaker…

by John MilbankJune 23, 2020
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Coronavirus

Virtual Gnosticism and the Church – some disturbing thoughts about Covid19

Gnosticism by any other name would smell the same. But does the church have much of a theological sense of smell, these days, when it comes to the seductions of virtuality in our worshipping communities? Social isolation during a global pandemic makes good public health sense, but whether church should…

by Paul TysonJune 16, 2020
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American Culture

The Priorities of Priests and Protests

It is a remarkable thing, you know, this thing called priority. Just a few weeks ago, religious leaders were boldly asserting in their high-dollar online videos that it was too dangerous to return to worship and that we needed to listen to our political and health leaders. "They are the…

by Uri BritoJune 15, 2020
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James

Anger, Riots, Violence, & Justice: How the Epistle of James Came to be Written

Somewhere in the city of Jerusalem on a rooftop just a few years after the ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost. . . ". . . and just when are you guys going to live up to your ‘Sons of Thunder’ reputation? Huh? A lot…

by Jeff MeyersJune 9, 2020
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Proverbs

Lady Wisdom Eve

In my book, Solomon Says: Directives for Young Men ( Amazon , Kindle ) I mention that Solomon portrays wisdom as a woman. But I don’t ask (or answer!) why he did so. Solomon uses the figure of Lady Wisdom without apology or explanation: Wisdom cries aloud in the street,…

by Mark HorneJune 2, 2020

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Bypassing humanity

Sarah Beckwith ( Shakespeare and the Grammar of Forgiveness ), further exploring the disruption of language in the aftermath of the Reformation, notes that two paths forward opened up. The first was magic, which the Reformers detected in the hocus pocus of the mass. This evaded the problem by bypassing…

February 12, 2013

Shakespeare and the Sacramental Crisis

Shakespeare’s plays are are a response to the crisis of authority and sacramental efficacy induced by the English Reformation, argues Sarah Beckwith in Shakespeare and the Grammar of Forgiveness . She writes of “an unprecedented, astonishing revolution in the forms and conventions of speaking, hence of modes of human relating.…

February 12, 2013

Benedict’s Resignation

Rupert Shortt offers some thoughts on the Pope’s resignation : “Even John Paul II, renowned for the doggedness with which he pursued his ministry in the face of chronic ill health, is said to have entrusted his private secretary with a resignation letter to be published if he reached a…

February 12, 2013

Journey toward Easter

Last year I tweeted through Lent, and compiled my thoughts here .

February 12, 2013
Literature

Choosing Playwrights

Those who doubt that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare,” writes Garry Wills in Verdi’s Shakespeare: Men of the Theater , “are working, usually from a false and modern premise.” They think of Shakespeare as something like a modern playwright who writes a play, shops it around, and finds a producer to put…

February 12, 2013

Trinity House: Hans Boersma says….

With Peter Leithart at the helm, the newly established Trinity House instills confidence. A careful reader of Scripture, a lover of liturgical worship, and an excellent theologian, Leithart is not afraid to pursue the truth—a quality we’re in serious need of in our often confusing ecclesial and theological landscape. As…

February 12, 2013

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