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

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Biblical Studies

Biblical Allusion and the Meaning of Othello

Understanding Shakespeare’s Biblical references is vital for the interpretation of many, if not all, of Shakespeare’s plays. For Othello , it is especially important, not only because the interpretation of the play is contested among various approaches — feminist, homosexual, post-colonial, Marxist, Freudian, new historical, and others — but also…

by Ralph Allan SmithJune 16, 2017
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Ecclesiology

Attaining Unity: A Reply to Mike Allen

Mike Allen of Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, scores some points in his review of The End of Protestantism . He lodges the fair complaint that my rhetoric sometimes outruns my evidence. He argues that more stress on the present reality of the church’s unity deepens the tragedy of division; divisions…

by Peter LeithartJune 13, 2017
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Eschatology

Comic Trinity

I begin with two observations. First, on any millennial view, the Christian account of history is progressive, moving from the garden to the city. It is eschatological not only in that there is an end, but that the end is a glorified beginning, not merely a return to origins. To…

by Peter LeithartJune 8, 2017
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Ecclesiology

Political Church

The church is a new form of polity that erupts into the world as much as the Son of God comes into the world. It’s a real-world political alternative to the polities of the ancient world. It resolves many of the political dilemmas of the ancient world, though not simply…

by Peter LeithartJune 6, 2017
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Baptism

Baptism Impasse: Baptists vs. Presbyterians, (Part 2)

In my last post , I explained how Baptists really have a “one-ordinance-one sacrament” ecclesiology. I said this: “what Baptists really believe, in modern parlance, is that there is one ordinance (baptism which is a sign or symbol only) and one sacrament (the Lord’s Supper in which feeding upon Jesus…

by Mani MarprelateMay 30, 2017
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Political Theology

Obedience of Rulers

One of the most extensive and penetrating responses to the Yoder-Hauerwas attack on Constantiniansm is found in Oliver O’Donovan’s Desire of Nations , in a chapter entitled “The Obedience of Rulers.” O’Donovan defines the word “Christendom” as “a historical idea,” specifically “the idea of a professedly Christian secular political order,…

by Peter LeithartMay 30, 2017

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Eucharistic Meditation

Luke 22:29-30: Jesus said to His disciples during the Last Supper, Just as My Father granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Last Thursday was Ascension…

May 28, 2006

Baptismal meditation

Acts 8:36: As Philip and the eunuch went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized? Baptism is God’s work, not mine. The voice you hear will be my voice, and I will be the one to pour…

May 28, 2006
Economics

Estate Tax

Peter Beinart offers one contradictory, one misleading, and one astonishing argument in favor of the estate tax on the “super rich” (TNR, May 15). The contradictory argument first: He quotes from Teddy Roosevelt to the effect that the wealthy owe a particular debt to the state because they benefit disproportionately…

May 28, 2006

Exhortation, Seventh Sunday of Easter

Easter is about faith, hope, and love. Easter is pre-eminently about the love of God for us. The Father loved His Son and rescued Him from death. When the Father rescued the Son, He also rescued us, so that we can join in Paul’s taunt-song against death: “Death is swallowed…

May 28, 2006
History

Salvation by Commerce

In a recent defense of the Enlightenment in Scotland and Naples, John Robertson focuses on the importance of commerce as an agent for renewing society. According to the summary of the TLS reviewer (March 24), Robertson “argues that the Enlightenment in Scotland and Naples began when David Hume, Ferdinando Gliani…

May 28, 2006

How to Stop Religion

In his recent book on “religion as a natural phenomenon,” Daniel C. Dennett deploys an evolutionary theory of religion in an effort to curb the abuses of religion. After over 400 pages, he is able to come up with this deep wisdom: “in the end, my central policy recommendation is…

May 28, 2006

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