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

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Isaiah

The Desert of the Sea

Introduction Isaiah 21 can only be understood in the light of its placement in the architecture of the second “volume” of the prophecy (chapters 13–27). The contents are arranged in twin sevenfold “columns” that represent the great bronze pillars of Solomon’s Temple: Jachin and Boaz, priest and king. The priestly…

by Mike BullFebruary 20, 2025
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Isaiah

Jesus Enthroned on the Zodiac

A Biblical Reflection on the Purpose of the Constellations The starry heavens hold a place of wonder in the hearts of men. Since man’s creation we have looked up into the heavens and have beheld its glory. This is particularly true of the night sky. The stars, in their shinning…

by Matthew DarbyFebruary 19, 2025
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Matthew

An Overall Chiasm around Six Discourses in the Gospel According to Matthew  

The case for there being five discourses within the Gospel according to Matthew is a hard one to challenge: surely the closing formula “when Jesus finished these sayings” as found in 8:1, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, and 26:1 settles it once and for all. And by the five instances of the…

by Benoit EngelFebruary 13, 2025
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Matthew

Exegesis of the Great Commission

The Long Commission The Great Commission of Matthew 28 has long been a cornerstone of American Evangelicalism. It has formed and fashioned the American church’s missional impulse. Yet when viewed from the wide lens of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, the Great Commission is revealed as one of the pillars…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 11, 2025
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Lord's Supper

Genuine Paedocommunion

I am delighted to see that more and more churches in the Reformed tradition are now recognizing that all baptized children are members of the body of Christ and therefore ought to be communing with the rest of the body at the Lord’s Table. This has been decades in the…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 6, 2025
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Twitter and Emotional Sabotage

Good leaders have always been rare. In today’s world, they seem extinct. Joe Rigney’s recent book Leadership and Emotional Sabotage digs into the spiritual reasons for the leadership epidemic and recommends cures. Rigney starts with a summary of a book by Edwin Friedman called A Failure of Nerve . Friedman’s…

by Christian LeithartFebruary 4, 2025

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More Than Cool Reason

Antonio Damasio began to doubt the purity of reason when he encountered a patient with a brain disease that destroyed the portion of his brain that controlled emotional responses: “I had before my eyes the coolest, least emotional, intelligent human being one might imagine, and yet his practical reason was…

May 9, 2016

The Persistence of Modernism

In a contribution to a forthcoming collection of essays on Time , David James explores the usefulness of periodization categories like “modern” and “postmodern.” To be sure, some believe that modernism and modernity are passe: “' Many emerging artists,' reflects Terry Smith, ‘sense that Modernism—no matter how often and subtly…

May 6, 2016

Singers and Priests

The genealogy of Levi in 1 Chronicles 6 begins and ends with the genealogy of Aaron (6:1-15; 6:49-53). In between are two lists of the clans of Levi, the first a simple genealogy arranged according to the subclans of Kohath, Gershom, and Merari (6:16-30) and the second a genealogy of…

May 6, 2016

No Deal

David Goldman (Spengler) writes that “Republican voters bought Trump’s message that the wicked Chinese and the feckless Mexicans have stolen jobs and wealth that rightfully belonged to Americans, and that he, Donald Trump, with his world-class negotiating skills, would go out and get them back.” The problem is that “There’s…

May 6, 2016

What Is A Family?

In her Sexual Authenticity , Melinda Selmys says that the distinction between “traditional” and “alternative” families is often misunderstood: “At the heart of it is distinction between family as something we choose to meet our own needs and desires (for comfort, security, affection, etc.), and family as something that we…

May 5, 2016

Sacramental Art

Nearly everything about modern art “can be empirically explained by examining style, iconography and patronage,” writes Richard Nelson ( The Spirit of Secular Art ). What cannot be explained is the prestige of art, and this eludes because it is reliant on intuitions that artists dismiss as archaic and outmoded.…

May 5, 2016

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