Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Hebrews 10:34 There is an old Puritan dictum that goes, “Sit lightly on the world.” George MacDonald places it…
As Genesis unfolds, God chooses a line of promise out of the nations. One by one its offshoots are peeled away as the story zooms in on God’s chosen people, Israel. First, the line of Cain is peeled away as Cain is sent out from the presence of YHWH. Though…
The following article was an address given to Anselm Presbytery (CREC) in the Fall 2024. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray with me. Father of Heavenly Lights and fount of all Wisdom, guide us we pray, by your Word and Spirit,…
At my age, I’ve given up on the fantasy of “keeping up.” Much of my reading is now narrowly focused, research-reading in service of writing projects. If you want bibliography on the ontology of artifacts in Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas (which you don’t), or the purity laws of Leviticus, or…
I have been reading, thinking, and writing about the Internet and its effects upon our identities, communities, polities, and discourses for nearly a copy of decades. In that time, I have encountered no book as perceptive on the subject as Antón Barba-Kay’s A Web of Our Own Making: The Nature…
Identifying the men Paul refers to as “enemies of the cross” in Philippians 3:18 turns out to be relatively difficult. Peter O’Brian speaks of “all kinds of suggestions regarding their identity,” and offers a list of interpretations: “moral libertinists, behavioural materialists, orthodox Jews, lapsed or apostate Christians—because of persecution, Jewish…
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Denominationalism encourages a stance of irony (insincerity, Charles Morrison called it in his 1953 The Unfinished Reformation , 46). We must think our denominational “distinctives” are important, or we wouldn't be in the denomination. We are willing to use identifying language and markers to associate ourselves with those distinctives–church names,…
Peggy Noonan argues in a recent column that “Rules on immigration and refugees are made by safe people. These are the people who help run countries, who have nice homes in nice neighborhoods and are protected by their status.” On the other hand, “those who live with the effects of…
In his recent Paul & the Gift , John Barclay arrestingly translates the Greek phrase to euaggelion tes akrobustias (Galatians 2:7) as “the good news of the foreskin.” He elaborates, “Modern Gentile readers, who have never been socialized to consider the foreskin a sign of inferior otherness or repulsive disgrace,…
At the heart of John Barclay's treatment of Paul & the Gift is the claim that Paul “perfects” the incongruity of grace. The grace-gift of Jesus is not a reward to the worthy; it is not a gift to those who will make use of the gift. It is a…
“To be ‘righteous,” writes John Barclay ( Paul & the Gift ), “does not mean to be ‘saved.'” Rather, the “righteous” person is one who is “worthy of the divine gift of salvation” (377). God gives gifts to those who are worthy of them. The “righteous” are worthy. God gives…
In a recent sermon, Pastor Jimmy Gill of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, pointed to the chiastic structure of Malachi 1:6-14, neatly marked by a sevenfold repetition of the phrase “says Yahweh of hosts.” A. Priests dishonor Yahweh their Father, 1:6a B. Blemished offerings on my altar, 1:6b-8 C. Will God…
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