Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
G.K. Chesterton assumes a surprising and memorable perspective from which to view the events of Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1-11) The Donkey by: G.K. Chesterton When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head…
There is a common biblical principle: you must give back what you steal. In the Bible, restitution is repayment with interest. If you rob someone of their money, you have to pay back double what you stole. A thief must pay back fourfold if he steals a sheep, and if…
Identifying Isaiah’s suffering servant with the promised Messiah is unthinkable for a Jew because it combines the offices of humble priest and victorious king. While it is frustrating that Jews refuse to see the sufferings of Christ in Isaiah 53, the reluctance of Christians to interpret the passage in its…
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6 (ESV) The command to praise God is pervasive throughout Scripture. In the verse above the Spirit calls all things with breath to praise the Lord. Song is also clearly featured all throughout Scripture and is a featured…
“Gender is a social construct.” That’s shocking to people who have assumed that gender and sex were synonyms but at least since I was in college, in the ‘80s, we were taught that “gender” refers to the forms, the customs, the traditions that our culture teaches us to define what…
In Genesis 49, Jacob prophesies about (blesses and curses?) his twelve sons. The first three of them don’t fare well. Jacob recalls Reuben’s offense of taking his concubine (Genesis 35:22) and the murderous violence of Simeon’s and Levi against the Canaanite inhabitants of the city of Shechem (Genesis 34). He…
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Bacevich is scathing regarding the national security apparatus: The “national security state” continues, he says, “because, by its very existence, it provides a continuing rationale for political arrangements that are a source of status, influence, and considerable wealth. Lapses in performance by this apparatus might logically raise questions about whether…
Hezekiah and Josiah celebrate large-scale Passovers. Why? What are they being delivered from? In both cases, Passover is preceded by massive destruction of idols and idolatrous shrines. First, the humiliation of the “gods of Egypt” and then the Passover. And that throws light back on the original Passover, which is…
Bacevich again: “The institution nominally referred to as the Department of Defense didn’t actually do defense; it specialized in power projection. In 2001, the Pentagon was prepared for any number of contingencies in the Balkans or Northeast Asia or the Persian Gulf. It was just not prepared to address threats…
Bacevich notes the remarkable co-dependence of Curtis LeMay and Betty Friedan: “Postwar foreign policy derived its legitimacy from a widely shared perception that power was being exercised abroad to facilitate the creation of a more perfect union at home. In this sense, General Curtis LeMay’s nuclear strike force, the Strategic…
Bacevich’s latest ( The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (American Empire Project) compellingly examines the links between American foreign policy and the “domestic dysfunction” that he finds in the United States itself. To preserve our profligate way of life, we embark on ever more ambitious foreign adventures.…
Bacevich argues that World War IV (the Cold War counts as #3) began in 1980, with Carter’s declaration that America would protect its vital interests in the Persian Gulf. While Reagan’s presidency was publicly focused on the Cold War, World War IV was already underway, with American interventions in Lebanon,…
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