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Writing

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

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Ezra

Ezra: The Aaronic Rest-Giver

If you’re a preacher looking for good commentaries on Ezra, you’ll struggle. Certainly to find ones that wrestle in good detail with the text. And certainly ones that don’t cost you an arm and a leg. There’s a good bit more for Nehemiah, which is odd, as the two are…

by Rhys LavertyJune 8, 2021
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1 John

1 John in Community

Quick thought experiment: try to pretend you’ve never read 1 John before. Read 1:1-6. Go ahead; I’ll wait. Now, on to v. 7: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with ______….” What word would you expect in that blank, based…

by Tim NicholsJune 1, 2021
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Hermeneutics

Spending Time with Noah: Reflections on Prepositions in the Flood Narrative

In my work as a Bible translator, I was recently checking our translation team’s draft of Genesis 8:8, which says of Noah (translating the Hebrew quite literally): And he sent out the dove from with him to see: had the waters lessened from upon the face of the ground? Part…

by Josh JensenMay 25, 2021
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Philosophy

Steven Weinberg Destroyed My Faith

Just in case a reader may not know Weinberg, he is a theoretical physicist and the winner of the Nobel prize in physics in 1979, as well as countless other prizes for his research. He is also a prolific, lucid, and captivating writer. If you want to read something on…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 18, 2021
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Colossians

Reconciliation in Colossians 1:20

Colossians 1:15-20 is a famous passage in Paul’s epistles because it is a succinct and powerful poem. It appears even to have been a hymn. Given the uniquely Pauline language — “reconciliation” is a term used only by Paul — it should not seem odd to attribute the poem/hymn to…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 11, 2021
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Movies

Terror of Knowing Myself

Stalker (1979) is a film by Andrei Tarkovsky based on Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers. It shows a day from the life of a stalker, a man who enters the so-called "Zone", an Alien landing site, where he leads people to a room that grants people’s innermost desires, which…

by Bogumil JarmulakMay 4, 2021

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Rewards of Generosity

At the Atlantic, Adam Grant describes the findings of his study, Give and Take , where he compiled “evidence that being a ‘giver’ who enjoys helping others can be inefficient in the short run but surprisingly productive in the long run.” He elaborated, “Givers tend to start out with lower…

March 20, 2014

Groaning Spirit

The Spirit is the Spirit of creation, hovering over the waters. The Spirit is the Messianic Spirit, equipping the Servant of Yahweh with wisdom and understanding, counsel and strength, filling His breath with the power to kill and make alive. But the Spirit who brings new creation out of the…

March 20, 2014

King, Eyes, Feet

Each of the seven letters in Revelation 2-3 corresponds to a period of Israel’s history. Jesus’ identification, the assessment of the church, and the promised reward all link together in a complex Old Testament scheme. Believe me for now, because I’m not going to try to prove it. But the…

March 19, 2014

Completed Works

Jesus judges everyone according to his works (Revelation 2:23), and the letters to the churches present a refined assessment of works. In Ephesus, they do their works but they (or at least the angel) has left his first love. Repentance means returning to the works that they did at the…

March 19, 2014

McCarthy the Gnostic?

What sort of religious vision animates the novels of Cormac McCarthy? That’s the question Todd Edmonson examines in a comparative study of McCarthy and Wendell Berry, Priest, Prophet, Pilgrim . It’s not an easy question to answer, given McCarthy’s famous reticence about himself and his beliefs. The man won’t even…

March 19, 2014

Politeuma

In her book on The Jews under Roman Rule (225-6), Mary Smallwood observes that the Jews of Alexandria sought to retain their cohesion not only by synagogues but through formation into quasi-civic organizations known as politeumata : “A polieteuma was a recognized, formally constituted corporation of aliens enjoying the right…

March 19, 2014

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