Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Place names become fraught with meaning by association with people and events. The name “Wittenberg” calls to mind Luther and the Reformation for Protestants and Catholics alike. Geneva has a wider range of associations, but the Reformation Wall, with its four main statues of William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza,…
“…a mystery without a solution, a horror story without savagery, a nightmare in which all the watches stop at noonday…” The Bestial Gardens of Men Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” (Luke 23:30) The following lines by Edgar Allan Poe,…
2 Samuel 11-12, which record David’s sin with Bathsheba and its aftermath, is structured chiastically: This arrangement highlights several things about the episode. It reinforces what is obvious from even a casual reading, that the transition in the story occurs with Nathan’s confrontation of David’s sin and David’s confession. Up…
Medieval bestiaries are packed with quaintly inaccurate information about animals, birds, and other created things. Foxes and snakes are devilish critters; stags, pelicans and elephants are Christlike in their various ways. Of course, the medievals picked this up from the Bible, where bestiary observations are fairly common. “Go to the…
What do Reformational Catholicism and craft beer have in common? The question seems to beg for a punchline. Better yet, it would be pretty good clickbait for an article on Katharina von Bora’s “spirited” contribution that helped spark the Protestant Reformation. Well, this is no joke and I am certainly…
Suffering Defined Suffering happens. We witness it all around us and experience it in our lives. It often comes from forces beyond our control. Suffering is inscrutable; it strikes unexpectedly, on a bright summer day or a cold winter night. We lament and are bewildered by suffering. But we are…
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Luke 22:29-30: Jesus said to His disciples during the Last Supper, Just as My Father granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Last Thursday was Ascension…
Acts 8:36: As Philip and the eunuch went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized? Baptism is God’s work, not mine. The voice you hear will be my voice, and I will be the one to pour…
Peter Beinart offers one contradictory, one misleading, and one astonishing argument in favor of the estate tax on the “super rich” (TNR, May 15). The contradictory argument first: He quotes from Teddy Roosevelt to the effect that the wealthy owe a particular debt to the state because they benefit disproportionately…
Easter is about faith, hope, and love. Easter is pre-eminently about the love of God for us. The Father loved His Son and rescued Him from death. When the Father rescued the Son, He also rescued us, so that we can join in Paul’s taunt-song against death: “Death is swallowed…
In a recent defense of the Enlightenment in Scotland and Naples, John Robertson focuses on the importance of commerce as an agent for renewing society. According to the summary of the TLS reviewer (March 24), Robertson “argues that the Enlightenment in Scotland and Naples began when David Hume, Ferdinando Gliani…
In his recent book on “religion as a natural phenomenon,” Daniel C. Dennett deploys an evolutionary theory of religion in an effort to curb the abuses of religion. After over 400 pages, he is able to come up with this deep wisdom: “in the end, my central policy recommendation is…
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