Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on…
A hundred years ago, William Warley signed a contract to buy a house in Louisville, Kentucky from Charles Buchanan, a white man. Before closing the sale, Warley, who was black, learned that the lot was subject to a city ordinance barring blacks from occupying the premises if most of the…
I concluded the first essay on this topic by saying that I would introduce three books about Shakespeare and the Bible, but I decided to introduce four instead. The three books become four are: Naseeb Shaheen, Biblical References in Shakespeare’s Plays (London: Associated University Presses, 1999) ; Hannibal Hamlin, The…
My children attend a classical Christian school, situated in the independent “free church” evangelical tradition. Over the past few years they have been growing in their acquaintance with the world of Homer, Plato, Virgil, and Livy. They enjoy it, and I envy it. The school is a great school. My…
The Prodigal Son parable (Luke 15) has been a favorite of liberal theologians for a couple of centuries. It seems to be a parable designed for liberal sensibilities: An indulgent, accepting Father; forgiveness extended without a cross; a surly older brother who might represent the "conservative" face of religion who…
“I want now to tell you, gentlemen, whether you care to hear it or not, why I could not even become an insect. I tell you solemnly, that I have many times tried to become an insect. But I was not equal even to that. I swear, gentlemen, that to…
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“The religion of our time,” says the writer known as Bronze Age Pervert , “is the unquestioned and absolute worship of human equality.” That may not be the religion, but it’s certainly one of them, and one that threatens to dissolve the moral and social distinctions and hierarchies on which…
Paul is a biblical theologian, and Romans 9—11 is among the bibliest section in any of Paul’s epistles. As noted by N.T. Wright (whose Paul and the Faithfulness of God I follow throughout), nearly forty percent of the text is taken up with quotations from Scripture, a higher concentration than…
Romans isn’t an ordo salutis with eschatological (chapters 9—11) and practical (Romans 12—15) appendixes. When we read Romans as a mini-systematic theology, we’re liable to read even chapters 9—11 as a theological treatise about predestination or divine sovereignty, supported by biblical citations. That gets things backwards. Paul isn’t using Scripture…
David Bentley Hart responds below to my rejoinder . Read this article on the "literal sense" in pre-modern exegesis. There is no rule regarding which fathers thought which stories only myths and which not. As for my historical-critical flourishes, I never attributed them to the fathers. You asked me whether…
Thanks to David Bentley Hart for responding to my critique of his book, and for the bracing clarity of his response. I think we now know where we stand. I hope I achieve similar clarity below, as I briefly sketch a few lines of rejoinder. 1) Of course, the Old…
Romans 8:1-4 follows on the anguished dilemma of Romans 7: Who can deliver from the body of death? Not the law, as Paul has shown. Torah intensifies the predicament, dividing even the faithful Israelite into a schizophrenic who inwardly delights in the law but cannot get his body to comply.…
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