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Biblical Theology

Biblical Bestiary and Covenant Creatures, Part 3: Reunion of Man and Beast in Christ

Abbreviated Introduction to the Series Scripture is absolutely dripping with animal metaphors. Animal traits, characteristics, and appearances are attributed to God, Man, Angels, Nations, Armies. Since animals are the lowest creature in the three-tiered hierarchy, they are useful to metaphorically focus on a single aspect of God (bold like a…

by Jonathan WhiteOctober 27, 2025
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Matthew

Authority that Heals: Unpacking Matthew 4:18 – 10:4

Many years ago, while perusing Janice Anderson’s revised doctoral dissertation, Matthew’s Narrative Web: Over, and Over, and Over again , I was impressed by her attention to literary structures of repetition within and across Matthew’s Gospel. 1 Her research, in part, nudged me closer toward my present conviction that Matthew…

by Jonathan SedlakOctober 21, 2025
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Biblical Theology

Biblical Bestiary and Covenant Creatures, Part 2: The Animalistic Dehumanization of Sin

Abbreviated Introduction to the Series Scripture is absolutely dripping with animal metaphors. Animal traits, characteristics, and appearances are attributed to God, Man, Angels, Nations, Armies. Since animals are the lowest creature in the three-tiered hierarchy, they are useful to metaphorically focus on a single aspect of God (bold like a…

by Jonathan WhiteOctober 20, 2025
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Song of Songs

Like a Lily Among Thorns: Hailing the Suffering Christ in Canticles

“Like a lily among the thorns, so is my love among the maidens… My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures among the lilies.” Song 2:2, 16 In chapter two of the Song of Solomon, the Beloved compares his Love to a lily among thorns. The language of…

by Mark BriansOctober 14, 2025
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Biblical Theology

Biblical Bestiary and Covenant Creatures, Part 1: The Shared Spirit of Men and Beasts

Introduction From the very beginning, angels and animals have played mediating roles between God and Man. Just as the World was made three-tiered (Heaven, Earth, Deep), so the creatures were made (Angels, Men, Animals). Before Christ came to build the permanent bridge across the chasm between God and Man, various…

by Jonathan WhiteOctober 13, 2025
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Matthew

Parables of Land and Sea in Matthew 13

Matthew 13, the third major discourse of the apostle’s gospel, is comprised almost entirely of parables. While it may seem that all the parables serve the same purpose in fulfilling the prophet Isaiah (Matthew 13:14), the parables found in verses 44–52, at the very least, function outside that purpose. This…

by David TownsendOctober 9, 2025
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Schmemann’s Journals

The journals of Alexander Schmemann were published in 2000 by St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, and they are simply mesmerizing. The same rich voice ?Ethe same rich soul ?Ethat is evident in Schmemann’s classic published works shines through in these journals. His semi-“outsider” status as an Orthodox Christian in a Protestant…

December 1, 2003

Schmemann’s Journals

The journals of Alexander Schmemann were published in 2000 by St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, and they are simply mesmerizing. The same rich voice ?Ethe same rich soul ?Ethat is evident in Schmemann’s classic published works shines through in these journals. His semi-“outsider” status as an Orthodox Christian in a Protestant…

December 1, 2003

Eucharistic Meditation, November 30

Communion meditation for November 30: We’ve seen in the sermon this morning that the incarnation calls attention to the kind of God we worship and serve. He is not a God who stands aloof and withdrawn when we suffer. Even in the OT, we see that Yahweh is a God…

November 30, 2003

Exhortation, November 30

Exhortation for November 30: Today is the first Sunday in the traditional church season of Advent. Advent means “coming,” and this season is one of preparation for the celebration of the “coming” of God at Christmas. There are four Sundays in Advent, and the readings and prayers of this season…

November 30, 2003
History

Hart on Cowling

In the December 2003 issue of First Things , David B. Hart has an interesting review of the work of Maurice Cowling. Cowling, as hard right as they come in Britain, is also a Christian historian, whose magnum opus traces the decay of Christian culture in Britain. Interestingly, Hart points…

November 26, 2003

Coakley on Norris on Incarnation

Sarah Coakley’s article from a symposium on the incarnation (published by Oxford) analyzes the work of Richard Norris on the Chalcedonian settlement. She finds fault with some of Norris’s historical anlaysis (she sees him importing post-liberal obsessions into his interpretations of the historical evidence, and quite nicely defends the notion…

November 26, 2003

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