Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The god of Israel was not just any god. Two thousand years of Christian history, with it’s besetting philosophical temptations, and full-blown deist and transcendentalist and universalist problems, have obscured the fact that, in itself, the identity of the true god (or gods) cannot be predetermined, any more than the…
Jacob and Solomon God gave wealth and possessions to Jacob, and then threatened to take them all away at Peniel. Jacob wrestled with God, and through prayer Jacob saw through the crisis by faith and was made victor (Hosea 12:4). The Kingdom period in Israel concerns the same themes. We…
In our study of the historical impact and unfolding of the Ten Words of God, we now arrive at the Third Word. The Third Word prohibits hypocrisy, and when we realize this, we can see right away that disobeying the Third Word is closely tied to the situation of Israel…
Abraham and Joshua In our previous two essays, we considered aspects of the lives of Abraham and Jacob, as these display how God works with men in history. These two men carry in themselves all the future of Israel, so to speak, and their lives at the individual level correspond…
Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World (continued) Physical Training Though it is seldom recognized any more, the fact is that no liberal arts and no science is possible apart from peace, and peace is only possible if there is a strong military presence that protects a nation.…
Last month, in our essay " Patriarchal Dominion ," we observed the flow from Abraham to Jacob to Joseph. Our concern here is to advance our understanding of that narrative flow. I should mention that I am assuming much that is found in my book Primeval Saints: Studies in the…
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In a 1987 essay on equality as a moral ideal , Harry Frankfurt notes that setting up equality of wealth or income as a social ideal diverts one's attention from oneself to concern over the assets of others: “To the extent that people are preoccupied with equality for its own…
In both Hebrew ( mal'ak ) and Greek, “angel” means “messenger.” At the outset, the “angels” who appear to human beings are spiritual beings. Yahweh Himself comes to Abraham as the Angel of Yahweh (Genesis 18-19), and then to Gideon and Samson's parents. In each case, the human recipients offer…
Yahweh chose Abram and called him from Ur. He promised a land, and enough see to fill the land and make it fruitful. With the promises came obligations. Yahweh “knew” Abram so that Abram might do something to achieve certain results. The Abrahamic obligation is laid out succinctly in Genesis…
Almost no one knows the name of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy. That is unfortunate, but may be changing as Rosenstock's intimate friend Franz Rosenzweig enjoys a boomlet of attention and with the publication of Wayne Cristaudo's Religion, Redemption, and Revolution . Among that tiny subculture that has actually heard of Rosenstock, it…
In a 2013 essay evaluating the Parliamentary bill on gay marriage, John Milbank observes that British “legislators have recognised that it would be intolerable to define gay marriage in terms equivalent to ‘consummation,’ or to permit ‘adultery’ as legitimate ground for gay divorce.” In these decisions, “the legislators have been…
In his Tristan and Isolde , Gottfried of Strassburg lays out a non-courtly, non-comic, mystical vision of love. As WTH Jackson puts it in The Anatomy of Love , Gottfried rejects the comic vision of love as uncomplicated and easy joy. He also rejects the idea that the lover seeks…
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