Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The history of the sin of Ham and the curse of Canaan comes in the middle of the Generations of Noah, a section of Genesis that begins at Genesis 6:9 and extends to the closing notice, Genesis 11:9. To understand the story better, it is necessary to get in mind…
This paper was written to persuade people who were members of the Presbyterian Church in America. It should be accessible to anyone who believes in baptizing infants–especially to those who consider themselves a part of the Reformation Tradition. References to “our Confession” or “our standards” invoke the Westmeinster Confession of…
Version 1.2 I write this brief essay in order to address a problem I have encountered. I keep reading explanations of doctrine of the sacraments fundamentally empty of the content which was once held by virtually all Reformed confessions and formulations. Furthermore, I read explanations and commentaries on the Westminster…
We continue our analysis of John Sailhamer’s book *Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account* (Multnomah Books, 1996), which argues that Genesis 1:2ff. is not about the creation of the whole world, but about the preparation of the Land of Eden, which is also the Promised Land.…
III. Death of God’s Firstborn in the real Egypt: This huge chiasm has as its center the betrayal of Peter, as the leader of the disciples himself rejects Jesus. Peter holds an oficial position as high priest among the disciples of the incarnate Lord. His rejection of Jesus is the…
I wrote a response to Rev. Richard Bacon’s tract, What Mean Ye by This Service , a copy of which I borrowed from the library at Covenant Theological Seminary. However, I recently discovered that a new appendix was added to the version available on the Blue Banner’s web page. This…
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What is conversion? There are different answers, argued Jerald Brauer in a 1978 essay on conversion in the Journal of Religion . He contrasts Puritan notions of conversion with those of later revivalist. Over several centuries, conversion was converted from a more corporate change to an individual experience, and from…
In a 2004 essay on global history, the late C.A. Bayly challenged the “fashionable emphasis on the wholly destructive effects of Western ‘colonialism.' Famine, the disruption of local communities, the exacerbation of religious and racial tensions: these are all attributed to the Western impact as vigorously by contemporary cultural critics…
One of the lesser-known movements discussed by Louis Newman in his Jewish Influence on Christian Reform Movements is the twelfth-century heresy initiated by Peter of Bruys and known as the Petrobrussian heresy. The Petrobrussians were similar to earlier and later movements in their rejection of infant baptism, their renunciation of…
“Put me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm,” says the Bride in the Song of Songs (8:6). Seals mark something with the name of the owner. A letter is sealed as proof of its author (1 Kings 21:8). The high priest's golden plate is…
Paul Avis wrote Becoming a Bishop as a theological handbook for bishops, but much of the book has a wider application to all church leaders. His advice about handling conflicts in the church is judicious. His “first and most basic” piece of advice is “Don't be afraid.” Fear can appear…
According to J. Stuart Russell ( The Parousia , 503), the Jewish War of the late 60s AD involved more than Palestine. Slaughter encompassed the empire, wherever Jews were: “Tacitus speaks of the bitter animosity with which the Arab auxiliaries of Titus were filled against the Jews, and we have…
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