Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The trailer for the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , was released last week. Following the success of the revival of the franchise in last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens , anticipation is unsurprisingly at a fever pitch. As in the case of The…
The word, “integration,” can sound abstract, technical, unhelpful. But as I represented it in my first installment on this matter , I take it instead to be the central desire of our lives. We long to integrate life, and to integrate ourselves. I offered as a preliminary definition, that integration…
Anyone who has read his Bible straight through has done it. Admit it. When you get to those parts in Exodus that deal with the instructions for and construction of the Tabernacle, your eyes glaze over and your mind begins to wander. Measurements, lists of materials, meticulous details about clothes…
This article is a continuation of James Jordan's article, " From Bread to Wine ". We will here investigate the use of the word “cup” for the wine. I suggest that the cup itself corresponds to the firmament shell between heaven and earth, and that the liquid in the cup…
And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered…
In the Bible, bread (and beer, usually translated “strong drink,” liquid bread made from grain) is priestly and wine is kingly and prophetic. Bread comes first and wine later. Bread is alpha food while wine is omega food. You eat bread in the morning and drink wine at night. Bread…
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Hans Schaller has some profound reflections on asking in his contribution to Asking and Thanking (Concilium) , p. 3 . Disputing Seneca, he says that asking is a fundamental human form of communication, for two reasons. First, “The strength of trust, whether between God and human beings or between human…
In his fourteenth-century Summa praedicantium, Johannes de Bromyard offers this lovely description of a creation returning thanks: “For if the flowers continuously taking in the rays of the sun ceaselessly render back bright colors and scent, it follows by a stronger reason that we who day and night constantly receive…
I offer some thoughts on the church’s response to the current debates and crises in American health care at http://www.firstthings.com/
Caleb Dalechamp wrote in his delightfully titled 1632 book, Christian Hospitalitie Handled Common-Place-Wise that “Hospitalitie falsely so called is the keeping of a good table, at which seldome or never any other are entertained then kynsfolk, friends and able neighbours . . . . This is no hospitalitie, though it…
In the aforementioned article on giving in the early church, Neil makes this intriguing comment about the Old Testament and Jewish understanding of “the poor”: “Justice for the poor is a strong theme in rabbinic texts. Injunctions to act justly towards the poor are evident in the earliest books of…
I n a 2010 essay on “Models of Gift Giving in the Preaching of Leo the Great” in the Journal of Early Christian Studies , Bronwen Neil answers the title question with a depressing, Not much. While the early church took over the Jewish and New Testament rhetoric on behalf…
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