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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Ben Witherington III has an excellent review of the errors of Dan Brown ‘s The Da Vinci Code in the May/June 2004 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review . Brown’s book would be comparatively harmless fiction but for the fact that he begins the book with the claim that “all descriptions…
French historian Alain Besancon raises this question in a fine article in Commentary . He suggests that religions can be classified as either revealed or natural, and asks whether Christians and Jews can regard Islam as either of these. Christians and Jews cannot consider Islam a revealed religion, he claims,…
Joshua Muravchik has a devastating analysis of Richard Clarke and his book in the May 2004 issue of Commentary . He compares Clarke’s book to a comic book, with Clinton playing SuperPresident and the Bush administration as the enemy of the people. The most amusing note in the article is…
New Republic legal correspondent Jeffrey Rosen argues that there are built-in brakes on the spread of gay marriage from Massachusetts to the rest of the country. Opponents of gay marriage fear that gay couples will flock to Massachusetts, get married, and return home to demand that their marriages be recognized…
Ryan Lizza describes Kerry’s current campaign strategy as a version of Muhammed Ali’s old “rope-a-dope” technique. While Bush hammers away with hooks and uppercuts, Kerry just stays on the robes and takes a beating. Meanwhile, he has been raising tons of money, which he can save to use after Bush…
Ryan Lizza describes Kerry’s current campaign strategy as a version of Muhammed Ali’s old “rope-a-dope” technique. While Bush hammers away with hooks and uppercuts, Kerry just stays on the robes and takes a beating. Meanwhile, he has been raising tons of money, which he can save to use after Bush…
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