Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Why there is more to Jephthah than meets than eye It was not that long ago that I realized the Jephthah-story and the Jesus-story were basically the same story. Sounds crazy, I know. But here is a one-paragraph synopsis of both: The people of God have gone their own way,…
G.K. Chesterton famously said that the Gospels don’t reveal Jesus’ mirth. It’s true we never catch Jesus laughing. But can we believe He never did? I don’t think so. Laughter is human, and Jesus was fully human. Jesus promised that those who mourned would laugh. He mourned; would He not…
Matthew 2 has all the elements of an exodus story. There’s a murderous king, who slaughters Jewish babies. There’s a infant who will be Israel’s future deliverer, saved from the murderous king so He can later return to save His people and lead them to the Promised land. There’s an…
The calendar of Israel was primarily theological, centered on commemorating the salvific acts of God, but also agricultural, celebrating the creation-restoring effects of those salvific acts. The feasts of the first month celebrated the reviving of the world in the Spring, and typified the cutting off of the Savior in…
The chiastic shape corresponds to the shape of human life. This should not surprise us, because we are made in the image of God, and God is manifest in Word and Spirit. If we are living epistles, our lives will look a bit like the literary shape of the books…
Back in January, Venkatesh Rao wrote a fascinating post on the Ribbonfarm blog, discussing different forms of models of narrative. Engaging with Ursula LeGuin’s talk ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ , Rao explores her contrast between the (male) ‘hero narrative’ and the (female) ‘carrier-bag story’, and suggests a third…
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Douglas Campbell responded briefly to my brief discussion of his critique of “justification” theory. In a fit of joie de guerre , I respond briefly. Campbell rebuts what he considers a “weak” argument in my post, namely, the claim that his decision to set out justification theory systematically and propositionally…
Peter Enns raises many of the standard objections to the Bible in The Bible Tells Me So . . . : Yahweh’s command to slaughter the Canaanites, contradictions in Scripture, historical errors and unscientific claims. His answers are pretty standard too. Christian don’t need to worry about God’s command to…
With a single line, Matt Zoller Seitz captures the quiet power of the Sundance TV series, Rectify , recently renewed for a third season: The show “never shouts when it can whisper.” The show’s principal character is Daniel Holden, recently released from 19 years on death row after the discovery…
Saul is presented to Israel as king by lot (1 Samuel 10). Samuel brings the tribes near, and the tribe of Benjamin is selected; then the Matrite clan within the tribe of Benjamin, and then Saul the son of Kish. We’ve seen this before. After the first, unsuccessful battle of…
Opening Heaven’s Floodgates , edited by Jason Silverman, is a wide-ranging collection of essays about the “Genesis flood narrative, its context, and reception.” The book includes detailed essays on the differing chronologies of the flood narrative in various ancient versions; comparative studies of Mesopotamian and Iranian myths; the use of…
Dwight Garner isn’t the first to wonder if the Swedish Academy’s commitment to honor “work of an idealistic tendency” has prevented it from rewarding some of the greatest writers of the past century: “Was it lofty Swedish idealism, as some have contended, that in part kept James Joyce, Virginia Woolf,…
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