Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The story of Judges 19 and the subsequent chapters are some of the most shocking and appalling accounts in all of Scripture. The callousness of the old host and the Levite, and the monstrous brutality of the men of Gibeah, leaves us feebly scrabbling for words by which to surmount…
David has become king. He has conquered the capital city of Jerusalem. He has brought the ark of Yahweh into the city and placed it in a tent. He has stationed Levites at the tent to offer sacrifices of praise. An anomaly hits him: He has a cedar-paneled palace, and…
In Part 2 of this series we traced what we have of the development of the epiclesis in the liturgy of the Church. In this third and final part we’ll look at the theological implications of this and how we may apply what we’ve learned. As we saw in Part…
In a 2014 piece published in First Things , I offered a "wish list" for Protestant churches, a checklist for a future catholic Protestantism. The wish list doesn't cover everything. It doesn't mention those things that Protestants, especially Evangelicals, already do, often exceedingly well, things like missions and evangelism and…
In the first part of this series we examined the meaning of “blessing” in Scripture and its parallels in Jewish liturgical tradition, but did not find anything that we could properly call an epiclesis (an invocation of the Holy Spirit). We did find examples of invocation of Jesus to “come”…
When the Aaronic priests were ordained, the blood of the ram of "filling” was placed on the lobe of the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe (Lev. 8:22-24). Similarly, the cleansing rite for a leper included smearing the right ear lobe, thumb, and big toe with…
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In case you need yet another reason to search for Isidore, he has recently been proposed as the “patron saint of the Internet.” And for those without the cash to buy the recent translation of Isidore’s Etymologies (advertized here some time ago), and with some facility in Latin, the Latin…
Paul also makes some observations that hint at aspects of a theology of music. He says or implies several things in 1 Corinthians 14:6-8. First, he introduces a musical analogy into a discussion of speech in the church, implying a parallel between music and language. That analogy becomes explicit as…
In 1 Corinthians 14:10-11, Paul supports a point about tongues and prophecy with a bit of linguistics. Meaning, he notes, functions within a linguistic community. Languages have significance (v 10), but only for those who know that significance (v 11). Language boundaries are community boundaries, so that if we speak…
INTRODUCTION John says that believing in Jesus the Christ is a sign of being born of God (5:1) and that those who believe in Jesus as Son of God overcome the world (5:4-5). How do we know that Jesus is Christ and Son of God? John’s answer is that faith…
Terrence Rafferty reviews a couple of recent horror novels in the NYT - John Saul’s In the Dark of the Night and Joe Schreiber’s Chasing the Dead . Both, he says, fail to deliver on the hints of deeper horror they toy with: “These novels are constructed as efficient, relentless…
1 John 5:5: whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. John uses the root of the word “victory” (nik-) seven times in this letter. Mostly, it’s buried in the word “overcome.” Young men, he says, overcome the evil…
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