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Writing

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

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Baptism

For the Children’s Sake | An Alternative Angle on the Paedocommunion Debate

The debate over paedocommunion does not seem to have made much headway on either side in recent years. Certainly both sides have made a solid effort to argue for their position. But no resolution seems to be forthcoming in the near future. As a convinced paedocommunionist, I find the church’s…

by Rich LuskNovember 16, 2002
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Covenant

Covenant & Election FAQs

How do covenant and election relate to one another? There are many issues of semantics that enter into this discussion and many issues of real substance, so we need to be careful. If we oversimplify, we can say that election relates to God’s eternal plan to save a people for…

by Rich LuskAugust 20, 2002
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Theologia

Vine, Branches, & Fruit

Shortly after the Last Supper and before his final arrest, Jesus said these words to his remaining eleven faithful disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit…

by Mark HorneJune 7, 2002
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Deuteronomy

The Gospel of Deuteronomy

Was Caleb saved by faith or works? Caleb is just one of many thousands of Hebrews who entered the Promised Land after spending years in the wilderness being led by Moses. God had delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and gave them a law at Mount Sinai based on…

by Mark HorneJune 7, 2002
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Romans

Romans and the Role of Israel in the Atonement

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5.7) So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of…

by Mark HorneJune 6, 2002
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Ephesians

Paul's use of the Decalogue in Ephesians 6:1-3

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6.1-3). Honor your father and your mother, that your…

by Mark HorneJune 6, 2002

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Sex in Eden

S tephen Greenblatt writes in The New Yorker about “How St. Augustine Invented Sex.” How typical of The New Yorker , a cynic might say—interested in the greatest theologian in the Western tradition only because he said something titillating. But it doesn't take much reading of Augustine to realize that…

June 30, 2017

Tragedy of Asa

K ing Asa of Judah made a strong start, purging the land of idols, altars, and images, and winning a war against the ginormous Cushite army led by Zerach. It all unraveled in his final years. From his thirty-fifth year to the forty-first year, when his reign came to an…

June 29, 2017

Under the Kanun

B essian Vorpsi, a young writer from Tirana, makes headlines in the Albanian capital when he decides to spend his honeymoon on the Rrafsh , the High Plateau, a semi-autonomous portion of Albania governed by the detailed rules of the medieval Kanun . He and his wife Diana visit sites…

June 29, 2017

Mystery Play

I n his quirky little essay on Benedict XVI, The Mystery of Evil , Giorgio Agamben cites Odo Casel's finding that “the term mysterion indicates a praxis, an action or a drama in the theatrical sense of the term as well, that is, a set of gestures, acts, and words…

June 28, 2017

Oneself in Another

I n his study of The Power of God in the Trinitarian theology of Gregory of Nyssa, Michel Rene Barnes distinguishes what he calls “Nicene” theology from later “pro-Nicene” theology. One of the key issues has to do with the conception of divine power, and the way it is elaborated…

June 27, 2017

Nationless States

I n an essay contributed to Christianity, Democracy, and the Shadow of Constantine , Capodistrias Hammerli looks at and through the Lautsi case to expose the rift between Eastern and Western Europe. The case began when Mrs. Soile Lautsi filed suit against the Italian government for putting crucifixes on the…

June 27, 2017

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