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Writing

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

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History

From a Ukrainian Pastor

First, what is going on in Ukraine is not for the European Union or against Russia. It is about the Ukrainian people’s dignity and destiny. They are tired of a corrupt government which acts like a tyrant, robbing and looting from its people, and they hate a judicial system where…

by San SanychFebruary 23, 2014
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Matthew

Babylonian Bookends

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship…

by Mike BullFebruary 19, 2014
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I Will Kill Her Children

Atheists love to embarrass Christians with a snide reference to the story of Elisha setting two bears upon some helpless children. What nobody, even Christians, seem to get is the “Covenant significance” of all the players in the story, harking back to Moses. The prophets were, after all, God’s “repo…

by Mike BullFebruary 17, 2014
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Books

Preaching as Liturgical Art

Preaching is in trouble. The classic models of the preacher as teacher of doctrine or as herald of the gospel are flawed, and don’t hit home in the postmodern world, which is oriented to images and mystery rather than to linear discourse and rationality. Trygve Johnson suggests an alternative that…

by Peter LeithartFebruary 13, 2014
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Ecclesiology

Nevin's Lament, Nevin's Hope

The following remarks were given to introduce the first annual Nevin Lectures, February 7, 2014. Trinity House was founded in 2012 to promote the reformation of the church by training pastors, future pastors, and lay people in Scripture and liturgical theology. We believe the church exists for the life of…

by Peter LeithartFebruary 10, 2014
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Exodus

Names of the Sanctuary

We can gain basic insights into the nature and function of the tabernacle by considering the biblical terms and phrases used for that structure. Exodus 25:1-9 begins the lengthy instructions for the construction of the tabernacle, and it uses some of the key terms for understanding the theology of the…

by Peter LeithartFebruary 5, 2014

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The Beast

I n an 1881 article , F.W. Farrar examined the case for Nero as the sea beast of Revelation 13. Many contemporary scholars dismiss this because they believe that Revelation was written decades after Nero. Farrar makes a circumstantial and exegetical case for the identification, and in the process provides…

August 23, 2016

It Takes A City

I n a 1977 Daedalus article on “ The Family and the City ,” French historian Philippe Aries argued that “the real roots of the present domestic crisis lie not in our families, but in our cities.” As cities “deterioriated” and urban culture weakened, “the omnipotent, omnipresent family took upon…

August 23, 2016

Born in Zion

P salm 87 is a hymn to Zion. The name “Zion” occurs four times, and the Psalm declares Yahweh's love for Zion (v. 1), the glory of Zion as city of God (v. 2), the joy that fills Zion (v. 6). It could be a “nationalistic” hymn to Israel's ancient…

August 22, 2016

Purity System

I n her contribution to The Peace of God , Amy Remensnyder examines the eleventh-century crackdown on simony, clerical marriage and unchastity, and the clergy's involvement in war. These were characterized as pollutions of the clergy and the church, and the rules were framed as purity prohibitions. Gregory VII denounced…

August 19, 2016
American Religion

Nature's Nation

A mericans have often justified American order and American exceptionalism by invoking “the myth of nature,” write Robert Hughes and C. Leonard Allen in Illusions of Innocence (205). They “first employed this myth to justify freedom from tyranny. But they soon began equating nature with particular dimensions of national life…

August 19, 2016

Mary Douglas and Taboo

I n a review of Jacob Milgrom's Anchor Bible Leviticus commentary, Jonathan Klawans provides a helpful summary of the achievement of Mary Douglas's Purity and Danger : Against especially Robertson Smith and Frazer, Douglas argued that avoidance behaviors could no longer be dismissed as something inherently or distinctly primitive. Douglas…

August 19, 2016

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