Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When might the Gospel according to Matthew have been written? Of course, any answer can only be speculation, but that does not mean we are reduced to groundless opinion. In this series of articles I point the way to an approach different from the general consensus among scholars today which…
In my first essay on “synopticity” I offered a rather rough definition of the phenomenon and important, though not exhaustive examples. In this essay, I want to introduce broader aspects of the phenomenon of “synopticity.” The first example that I have in mind is conventional stories, stories of different historical…
Since the judgment of Babel was followed by the initiation of the circumcision, the impending end of the circumcision in AD70 explains the significance of the first century miracle of foreign tongues. Except for a few Aramaic “teasers” in the book of Daniel, the Word of God was monolingual and…
To the best of my knowledge “synopticity” is not a word used in theology or Biblical studies, but it seems an appropriate word to describe the kind of phenomena associated with the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three Gospels tell essentially the same story with significant — sometimes…
Humor is a funny thing. It is altogether familiar yet also mysterious. What makes us laugh? Why do we find things funny? There are academic fields of study dedicated to discovering what makes things humorous. These academicians even have a journal entitled International Journal of Humor Research . No joke.…
Out of all the characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales , the Pardoner has been called the “one lost soul.” The pious Parson, who closes out the collection of tales with a sermon on the seven deadly sins and how a sinner can absolve himself of them, connects the…
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God’s fiery presence descends from Sinai and no one can enter tabernacle. It happens again when the temple is finished. But when the Spirit falls, the disciples stand in the fiery presence and are not consumed. They have become asbestos. They are Daniel’s three friends in the furnace; burning bushes.…
David’s life recapitulates and predicts the history of Israel. Fleeing from Saul, he goes into exile westward among the Philistines, a repeat of the Egyptian exile. He comes out of Philistia to conquer the the land and take the throne. Later, his son Absalom rebels and drives David out of…
In his contribution to Martin Bucer: Reforming Church and Community (73), Ian Hazlett calls attention to Bucer’s sense of the breadth of the issues involved in the debate over real presence: “for Bucer by now the issue of the presence of Christ in Communion goes far beyond fixing one’s attention…
Ian Hazlett ( Martin Bucer , 78) observes that some Anabaptist groups taught “a radicalized Anselmian doctrine of the all-sufficiency of Calvary, by which Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross effects per se salvation for those who so believe. This reductionist externalization of Christ is then reinforced when it is…
When the angels come out with their trumpets, they “prepare ( hetoimazo ) to trumpet them” (Revelation 8:6). It’s not clear what that means. A warm up, with old jazz standards first improvised by Jubal? Cleaning the mouthpiece or valves? The more important point of the reference seems to be…
Jesus is “first and last” ( protos kai eschatos ) and He says so at the beginning and end of Revelation - at the first and the last (1:17; 2:8; 22:13). “First and last” is the first and last thing Jesus says. In between these two declarations, there are several…
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