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

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Hermeneutics

The Complexity of Biblical Allusion

There is no question about the fact that the book of Deuteronomy is full of literary allusion. But there is a serious problem, even a paradox, of understanding how that allusion works. To begin with, if we assume that Deuteronomy was written by Moses — with some editorial emendations added…

by Ralph Allan SmithJanuary 23, 2018
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Culture

The Artificial Resurrection

Genesis and Genetics in Blade Runner 2049 The power of science fiction, and what’s positive about it, is that you’re able to experience the worst-case scenario without actually having to live it. (Actor Ryan Gosling, who plays Officer “K”) (Warning: The following analysis contains spoilers for both Blade Runner films.)…

by Mike BullJanuary 18, 2018
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Biblical Studies

The Battle of Gog and Magog

The battle of Gog and Magog is found in Ezekiel 38-39. My purpose in this brief essay is to propound an explanation for this passage that I have not encountered in any of my commentaries, but that makes more sense to me than any other. I offer it here in…

by James B. JordanJanuary 16, 2018
resurrection

Deep Hope

I. Varlam Shalamov in Kolyma Tales describes his experience of the Gulag, where he spent more than a dozen of years. In a story titled The Life of Engineer Kipreev Shalamov reflects on the theme of hope in the life of a prisoner: “Hope always shackles the convict. Hope is…

by Bogumil JarmulakJanuary 11, 2018
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Biblical Theology

Abram’s 318 Men

Genesis 14:14 says that Abram mustered his trained men, “born in his house,” to rescue Lot, and gives their number as 318. It is clear that the precise number is provided for some reason, but what is it? S. Gevirtz notes that 318 is the sum of all the prime…

by James B. JordanJanuary 9, 2018
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Biblical Studies

The Flying Scroll

And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits" (Zechariah 5:2). Immediately following his vision of the outpouring of the Spirit upon the restoration community (4:1-14), Zechariah saw a flying scroll. The…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 4, 2018

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Reagan Unbound

Ken Adelman had an inside track for understanding Reagan at Reykjavik , the apparently failed but ultimately epoch-making negotiations about nuclear arms between Reagan and Gorbachev in Iceland. According to the NYTBR review, Reagan “spooked Republican foreign policy hands with lofty talk of ‘the total elimination one day of nuclear…

August 7, 2014
Theology

Singular God

Walter Lowe’s contribution to the Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology is a brief not for particularity but for the postmodern recovery of singularity after the collapse of Enlightenment universalism. Lowe argues, “Nothing dictates that truth, elusive as it is, cannot possibly be revealed in, and linked to, a speci?c singularity;…

August 7, 2014

Moses, Creator

Exodus includes two descriptions of the furnishings of the tabernacle, one before the golden calf incident (25-31) and one after (35-40). Exodus 39:32-43 provides the conclusion to a section describing the construction of the tabernacle and furnishings, which is followed by the actual erection of the tabernacle in chapter 40.…

August 7, 2014

Great Sword

When the second creature calls out, a red horse emerges from the opened heaven, with a rider who receives the ability to remove peace, to set men against each other, using a “great sword” ( machaira megale , Revelation 6:4). Only a few “great swords” appear elsewhere in Scripture. Yahweh…

August 7, 2014

Divine Energies

In an appendix to Fullness Received and Returned (390), Seng-Kong Tan summarizes Paul Negrut’s arguments against the notion of divine energies developed by Gregory of Palamas. First, “while the energies are enhypostatic and only express but are not identical to the divine persons, it follows that ‘the latter is forced…

August 7, 2014

For Office Windows

Everyone knows, as Eric Jaffe puts it , that “Outside views are often badges of seniority or achievement in the work world—understandably, given that they’re in short supply.” A new study suggests that there’s more at stake, though: “an interdisciplinary team of architects and medical researchers . . . recently…

August 7, 2014

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