Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt…
Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World As I mentioned above, the history of Israel involved several centuries as a church-without-a-culture, and then several centuries as a culture-without-a-city. To be sure, there was an informal culture around the church of the Patriarchs, but the civilization of free farmers…
In the Reformation Tradition we baptize both professing believers and their children. In the case of infants it is now commonly insisted that this is done because the children are already in covenant with God. Baptism is a sign and seal of a previously existing reality. Despite the popularity of…
Concerning Sex & the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf of bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many…
Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato, virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the mumbo-jumbo and — presto! — the sacraments confer…
In 27.2, the Westminster Confession says that because of the “spiritual relation” between sacraments and the things they represent, “the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” Applied to baptism, this means that when the Bible says that we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6), it…
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Mary Lefkowitz ‘s Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn from Myths was published last year, and has been a recent selection for the Conservative Book Club . Lefkowitz argues that though we no longer share ancient theology, we “still have much to learn from listening to what the…
Victor M. Wilson’s book, Divine Symmetries , studies literary and numerological patterns in the Bible. He has a chapter on Luke-Acts, and includes some fairly standard material about the structural parallels between the two books, but draws some interesting conclusions. Here is a reproduction of his page summarizing the parallel…
Tom Aitken reviews The Passion of the Christ in the March 26 issue of the London Times Literary Supplement , and says everything I would want to say about the weaknesses of the film, and more. Aitken goes off track a few times when he talks about the gospels themselves,…
This was delivered at a joint Trinity-Christ Church Good Friday Service, April 9 2004. 1 Corinthians 2:8-9: We speak God?s wisdom among you in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age had understood;…
This article is reprinted from Tabletalk 25.4 (April 2001): 9-10, 54. Thanks to John Barach for typing it up for use here. Many today boast of near-death experiences. I do not. I have never had a near-death experience. But I am not intimidated by those who have, because I can…
The Westminster Dictionary of Worship has this explanation for the name Maundy Thursday: “The title for Thursday in Holy Week derives through Old French mande from the Latin ‘mandatum novum,’ ‘a new commandment’ (John 13:34), associated with the ceremonial washing of feet, which is still continued in some token form…
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