Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
It seems to be old news, but I was unaware of it until recently. Australian academics argued that mothers should be allowed to terminate the life of a newborn child. [i] Why would they promote such an idea? Because before the child is born it is not always possible to…
This is the second of two essays introducing Pascal’s Wager. Click HERE for Part 1. In “The Pop Star and the Mathematician” I gave an overview of the apologetic approach commonly called Pascal’s Wager. In that Wager, 17 th -century French mathematician Blaise Pascal argued that the choice between Christian…
This is the first of two essays aiming to introduce the reader to Pascal’s Wager. The second will address criticisms of the Wager. In the early 1990s, a perennially popular British pop star was interviewed on British television about his very public evangelical Christian faith. “What if,” the reporter asked…
Matthew 13 is about secrets. In this chapter, Jesus teaches eight parables and tells the disciples that they reveal the secrets of the kingdom (13:11). And much like Samson who both tells riddles and is himself a riddle that the reader must solve, so Jesus not only tells secrets but…
Click HERE for part One. THE TEXT AS TABERNACLE Creation – Initiation – Genesis (1 Samuel 17:1-11) The gathered armies not only remind the reader of Ebal and Gerizim, but also of the very reason that Israel was established (Creation) , set apart from the other nations by the circumcision…
What to do with Job’s Final “Friend,” Elihu Elihu is a strange character, at least in the sense of how and where he appears in the book of Job. Why does he not appear with the other three “friends?” Does his argument differ from any of the first three who…
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A couple of interesting lectures on Music and Theology in the Christian Systematic Theology group of AAR. Nick Adams offered a very detailed and technical discussion of Messiaen’s Messe de la Pentecote in order to explore some issues in doctrinal change and continuity. He noted that Messiaen employed plainchant and…
A few notes from the ever-stimulating James Jordan, who spoke at a conference in Lancaster, PA this weekend: 1) He connected the opened eyes of Adam and Eve after the fall with the Lord’s seeing in Gen 1, where sight is associated with evaluation and judgment. To say that their…
Reviewing David Hart’s recent book on the tsunami in The Christian Century, Willis Jenkins writes, “Curiously underplaying the resources of his own Eastern Orthodox tradition, Hart only vaguely affirms that creation must be an ‘ecstasy of spiritual intelligence and desire.’ Because he spends himself impugning nature’s vicious ways, he leaves…
John Milbank gave a very long, very dense lecture (amusingly interrupted by microphone problems and a fire-alarm evacuation of the hotel) on Sophiology and theurgy, drawing mainly on Bulgakov. I can’t say that I understood all that was going on, but I resonated to one respondent who asked why Sophia…
John Franke’s lecture at ETS argued that postfoundational theology must be joined to a postcolonial attention to the “margins” of the Christian church. Though the postcolonial point was the thrust of the lecture, I was interested, given some current controversies in which Franke is embroiled, in his clarifications of postfoundationalism.…
Scott Clark presented a paper arguing that imputation was inherent in Luther’s mature understanding of justification, challenging various alternative readings of Luther, particularly those arising from the Finnish Lutherans. He offered a number of helpful points: He gave a quick but helpful overview of the development of Luther studies since…
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