Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I grew up on the north side of Chicago. My parents were evangelicals and I was raised in the faith. I graduated from a large public high school in which practicing Christians were very few and very far between (though nominal Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox were in abundance), which…
During the recent round table discussion on the future of Protestantism , Peter Leithart advocated a much greater degree of unity in the Church than we presently enjoy. Another participant in the discussion wondered aloud how Leithart's vision would be different from the ministerial associations that presently exist in many…
"But he, wanting to justify himself, said, 'And who is my neighbor?' And Jesus said to him, 'First, your neighbors are the people in your church, then the ones with whom you enjoy greatest doctrinal or ecclesiastical commonality, then those with whom you enjoy less commonality.'" -Said Jesus... never Since…
A number of years ago, I came across something in the Puritan Thomas Goodwin in regard to John 17:22. Goodwin points out that Jesus prays that they (the disciples) might be given the glory of the Father as a means to an end. The end is unity, and the means…
In her prize-winning book, Gilead , Marilynne Robinson uses the pastoral settings of Iowa to challenge ministers to live up to their high callings. One of the most powerful themes in the novel is the pastor’s power to “bless.” The tension in the novel builds as we watch Rev. Ames…
One of the few glaring errors of the Protestant Reformers was the failure to welcome children back to the Lord's Table. Something that seems to go along with this was the exclusion of other kinds of Christians, primarily Roman Catholics, from Holy Communion in Protestant churches. Exclusion of Roman Catholics…
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In a 1989 article in the European Journal of Sociology on the changing conceptions of friendship through history, Allan Silver comments on the relationship between uncertainty and trust: “Uncertainty about others cannot be eliminated on purely experiential grounds. Trust is meaningful precisely because others retain their capacity to act against…
In his recent Inerrancy and the Gospels: A God-Centered Approach to the Challenges of Harmonization , Vern Poythress emphasizes the personalism of the biblical worldview. There’s a Trinitarian root to this point: “Each person of the Trinity has his distinct personal perspective on knowledge. God the Father knows all things…
Isaiah 45 concludes with the declaration, “In Yahweh shall be justified and shall glory all the seed of Israel” (v. 25). The context makes it clear what this justification consists of: To be justified is to be delivered from exile, to be rescued from chains, to be the object of…
Yahweh does what He does to demonstrate His uniqueness, both to Cyrus and to everyone else. From the rising to the setting of the sun, men will know “none besides me, I myself Yahweh, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:6; Heb. ki-‘efes bil’aday ‘aniy yawh v’eyn ‘od ). Virtually…
Yahweh calls on the heavens to drop and the clouds to pour out the rain of righteousness. Justice drops from heaven, just like mercy (ask Portia!). The result is that the earth produces the fruit of salvation and justice (Isaiah 45:8). In a drought, nothing springs up from the earth;…
Psalm 80 is addressed to the “shepherd ( ra’ah ) of Israel,” Yahweh, who leads Joseph like a flock. The Psalm is a lament; instead of bringing the flock of Israel to green pastures, he pastures them with the bread of tears and makes them to drink tears. Worse, though…
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