Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Every attempt to understand the Christian sacraments makes use of comparisons or analogies with other rituals, events, or customs. Calvin and those who followed him, for example, spoke of the sacraments as “seals,” and compared them to the “seal of approval” that an official impresses on a document. Thinking about…
Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy has pointed out in his essay "Hitler and Israel, or On Prayer" (available for $2.00 from Biblical Horizons ) that it is God’s word "No!" that establishes in a culture the distinction between the Creator and the creature. The Bible repeatedly says "No!" to every human attempt to…
If you missed Gattaca at the movie theaters, you can probably check it out from your local video store now. And you should. This is one of those relatively rare thought-provoking movies that can stand being watched with brain in gear more than once. It is also poetic, sensitive, visually…
Part 4: The Nephilim Factor Western Civilization partakes of what I call "the Nephilim Factor." The Enoch Factor means that the pagans get there first. This is both a blessing and a danger. As a blessing, it means that they work out techniques of dominion over the lower creation that…
The Worship Service Then the one speaking with me took me by the hair and lifted me into the air in the middle of the great room. And as I watched, I saw people entering the room to the sound of the great bells outside. Then entered from all four…
Part 3: Philosophy (continued) If we realize that human beings are the images of God, and that man hates God, then we realize that all non-Christian political philosophy is founded on a fundamental hatred of other human beings, a hatred manifest in contempt. Rome, like Enoch, was founded on the…
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I've noted before that the word “voice” appears seven times in Psalm 29. That suggests a link with creation, and we can see a general creation sequence in the Psalm: Days 1-2: In Genesis, the Spirit hovers over the waters, and then the Lord divides the waters above and below…
The Greek word “plague” ( plege ) is used 16 times in the book of Revelation, but twice we get a count of plagues. The hyacinth army of Revelation 9 breathes out the “ three plagues” of fire, smoke, brimstone (9:18). Those plagues show up later (14:10-11 [all three]; 19:20;…
Derrida revived the ancient myth of Thoth, told in the Phaedrus , according to which the invention of writing was like a fall of man. Writing things down destroyed the personalism and in-placedness of speech, and eventually would destroy memory. Being a book, the Bible is understandably pro-book, and the…
In a 2001 article in Evangelical Quarterly , Ralph Bowles argues that Revelation 14:10-11 does not teach that the wicked are eternally punished in hell, as many have thought. The text says that beast-worshipers will be tormented in fire and brimstone and “the smoke of their torment goes up forever…
Suppose denominations are declining in importance. Suppose other patterns and groupings are taking their place. What form will those other patterns and groupings have? The short answer is: We don't know. No patriarch could have imagined the Mosaic system, and no priest serving the tabernacle could have anticipated all the…
Princes didn't start the Reformation, but Mark Greengrass ( Christendom Destroyed ) says that they benefited most from it: “The empire's evolution allowed them to present themselves as its primary law-makers and keepers of the peace” (314). It was beginning already before the Reformation: “Princes and imperial cities attempted to…
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