Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Inspired by our recent podcast on Christmas and Advent music recommendations, we offer here a list of excellent recordings that are sure to enrich your Advent and Christmas season. Praetorius: Mass for Christmas Morning Paul McCreesh with the Gabrieli Consort and Players Amazon | Spotify | Apple Music 2. Christmas…
In the year 1483 in the city of Nuremberg, the leaders of the renowned Saint Lawrence Church were seeking to redesign their altar, and above the table where the priests presided over the eucharist, they wanted new art installed above the prestigious Krell altar. What they decided on took everyone…
The consequences of disobedience start with exile from the garden of God and the Tree of Yahweh, but they do not end there. They cascade down through the structure of the dynastic order. Everything which had previously been given in the Kingdom of Elohim is either taken back or curtailed…
Parallelism: A Course Correction If you have ever studied Hebrew poetry, you have probably heard its basic poetic feature described as “parallelism.” Hebrew poetry is not metered, it does not rhyme, it does not employ many of the common poetical tropes, but its distinctive (and almost universal) feature is commonly…
In The Crown and the Courts , David C. Flatto traces the development of the idea of judicial independence in Jewish commentaries on the Scriptures – particularly Deuteronomy 17 – from the Second Temple and early rabbinic periods. These periods roughly span 400 BC to 300 AD. Flatto does not…
A curious feature of the Infancy Narratives in the Gospel of Luke is the naming of John the Baptist. When the angel appears to Zechariah, he is instructed to give his promised son the name John (Luke 1:13). On the day of John’s circumcision, Luke tells us that “they [presumably…
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Robert Bellamy states the thrust of his "republican defense of constitutional democracy" up front ( Political Constitutionalism , viii). He rejects the common assumption that "a written, justiciable constitution, incorporating a bill of rights" is a "necessary safeguard against the abuse of power by democratic governments." Written constitutions often have…
Adam Kirsch can't bring himself to say that poet Richard Wilbur, who died last weekend, was a Christian. In a 2004 New Yorker review , he comes close - recognizing religious themes and describing him as a "Transcendentalist." Kirsch recognizes that Wilbur's religious vision infused his poetry: "the clean laundry…
In Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed (33-4), Tracey Rowland takes note of the Pope's sharp critique of popular music, including contemporary Christian music. Benedict "quotes Adorno’s judgement that ‘the fundamental characteristic of popular music is standardization’ and describes this as ‘incompatible with the culture of the Gospels, which…
Evolutionary theorists want to present evolution as a theory of everything. Benedict XVI ( Truth and Tolerance , 180-1) doesn't buy it. Philosophically, the question is "whether reason, or rationality, stands at the beginning of all things and is grounded in the basis of all things or not. The question…
In his book on sacral Kingship (90-1), Francis Oakley points to the disjunction between Augustine himself and the medieval writers to claimed his mantle. Augustine's political theology in the City of God has been read through the lends of his anti-Donatist writings. A more theocratic Augustine results: "the Augustine whom…
Gaul is still divided into three parts, according to Stefan McDaniel in a 2016 essay in First Things . Three parties are vying to determine the future of France - deconstructionists, children of 1968; reconstructionists, in search for new values to guide the country, including consideration of Islam; and classicists,…
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