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Writing

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

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Art

The Second Word IV: Implications

What About Catholics? (continued) Usually, such people are not seeking graven images, but rather their idolatry is of a broader character. They are seeking a home on earth. Scott Hahn’s book is called Rome Sweet Home . This is the essential sin, for there is no home on earth. The…

by James B. JordanDecember 7, 1994
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Biblical Studies

The Gospel and the Virtues

Reading the earliest Christian apologists is like watching a movie in which the hero has the means to demolish his opponents in his grasp but never realizes it. The apologists come across as men not altogether aware of the radical character of the gospel they defend. In response to charges…

by Peter LeithartNovember 23, 1994
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Biblical Studies

Suffer the Little Children

Then [Elisha] went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, ne`arim came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!" When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in…

by Peter LeithartNovember 23, 1994
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Biblical Chronology

Genesis 5 & 11: Chronological-Theological Reflections (Part 2)

Further Numerical Items of Interest Umberto Cassuto points out some other numerical factors in Genesis 5. 1 For one thing, he observes that every number in Genesis 5 is a multiple of 5, sometimes with the addition of 7. We have, in essence, made this point already. He also points…

by James B. JordanNovember 7, 1994
Biblical Horizons

The Second Word III: Exposition; Implications

Prostration God has designed the human body in a marvelous way, and Biblical religion is very physical. We believe in the resurrection of the body, against all pagan ideas of the immortality of the soul. We bury our bodies, not burning them. Human beings in their totality, including our bodies,…

by James B. JordanOctober 7, 1994
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Revelation

The Last Eight Visions of Revelation

Since Revelation is laid out in serieses of sevens, it is worth investigating to see if there is a series of seven after the seven libation-bowls of chapter 16. I believe there is, and it is the burden of this essay to expose it. The series of sevens, or heptamerous…

by James B. JordanOctober 7, 1994

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Lonely Made Visible

I n The New Yorker , Hanya Yanagihara situates photography among the arts: “if love belongs to the poet, and fear to the novelist, then loneliness belongs to the photographer. To be a photographer is to willingly enter the world of the lonely, because it is an artistic exercise in…

July 29, 2016

China's Christian Future

I f you haven't yet read Yu Jie First Things piece on “China's Christian Future,” do it now. It's a first-rate piece of political-religious analysis, a moving story of faithful witness, a powerful brief for the Christian future of the world's most populous country, which will, by 2030, be the…

July 29, 2016
Wealth

Renunciation and Delight

W ise words, as usual, from Gilbert Meilaender: “Christians can . . . adopt and recommend no single attitude toward possessions. When they attempt to understand their lives within the world of biblical narrative, they are caught in the double movement of enjoyment and renunciation, Neither half of the movement,…

July 29, 2016

Earth's Oceans

A fascinating article in the Economist asks, What would we see if we could see through the sea? A few highlights: On plankton: “The world’s stock of phytoplankton, tiny photosynthetic algae and bacteria. Its total mass is far less than that of the plants that provide photosynthesis on land, but…

July 29, 2016

Dickens Meets Dostoevsky

T he TLS recently republished a delightful piece of literary detective work by Eric Naiman, first published in 2013. In 2002, one Stephanie Harvey published a piece in the Dickensian describing an encounter between Dickens and Dostoevsky. It's a hoax. There is no real evidence for the meeting, but Naiman…

July 29, 2016

Are We Stupid about Smart?

“S mart” has become the encomium of contemporary culture, and the elevation of smart has real-world consequences. IQ is strongly correlated with financial success. David Freedman reports in the Atlantic , “many employers now ask applicants for SAT scores (whose correlation with IQ is well established); some companies screen out…

July 29, 2016

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