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

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Biblical Horizons

Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

"Vanity of vanities", says the Preacher. "All is vanity". Life, we are told in the book of Ecclesiastes, is a repetitious, wearisome cycle; all that is and all that will be has already been. There is nothing new under the sun. What is crooked cannot be made straight, what is…

by Peter LeithartFebruary 23, 1991
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Biblical Studies

Three “Falls” and Three Heroes

The Bible tells us that when God created the earth, He set up three zones of life. The first was the world itself. The second was the holy land of Eden. And the third was the Garden in Eden, God’s sanctuary. God told Adam and Eve that every tree was…

by James B. JordanFebruary 22, 1991
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Biblical Studies

The Chronology of Ezra & Nehemiah, Part 1

In our survey of Biblical chronology we have arrived at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which provide chronological information for the period after the return from exile, the Restoration Period of Old Testament history. The question we begin to address in this essay is whether the Artaxerxes of these…

by James B. JordanFebruary 22, 1991
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Matthew

Pluck It Out!

These verses from the Sermon on the Mount are generally taken in connection with Jesus’ earlier statement concerning adultery in the heart (vv. 27-28); the eye and the hand have obvious relevance to the sin of adultery. At the same time, most commentators admit that the principle of avoiding occasions…

by Peter LeithartFebruary 2, 1991
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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 9

17. The eye that mocks a father, And despises to obey a mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it. 18. There are three things that are too wonderful for me, Four that I do not understand: 19. The way of…

by James B. JordanJanuary 30, 1991
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Biblical Horizons

The Dominion Church

The modern Church in America and virtually everywhere else is ideology-centered, not geographical. This is because various Churches believe different things and have different customs of worship and sacraments. The ideological Church has gradually developed from the time of the Reformation, because accuracy of doctrine has become more important to…

by James B. JordanJanuary 30, 1991

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Philosophy

Preserving Subjectivity?

In a TLS exchange with Timothy Williamson on the uses of philosophy, Roger Scruton argues that philosophy's task is to preserve humanity's humanity, the subjectivity that sets us apart from the rest of the world. Philosophy mans the boundaries between objective science and humanism, especially aesthetics. Scruton writes that the…

November 3, 2017

Janus-Faced Play

Rosenstock-Huessy begins his sociology with a lengthy discussion of the spaces of play. His premise is that "in play, it transpires that we anticipate the experiences of real life." A little girl marries her boy doll to her girl doll. A boy enacts a battle with his toy soldiers (47).…

November 3, 2017

Sociology of Suffering

Rosenstock-Huessy scoffs at the notion of presuppositionless sociology ( Sociology , vol. 1, 26). In a moving tribute to the life and work of Saint Simon, he argues that, on the contrary, "Everything known to sociology is known only because suffering is a fundamental fact. From the very first, her…

November 3, 2017

Race in Suburbicon American

Anthony Lane doesn't much like George Clooney's 1950s black comedy, Suburbicon . One of the story-lines focuses on the Mayerses, a black family, who move into the Suborbicon neighborhood. All hell breaks loose: "The mailman is astounded. The street is appalled. The whole community is in an uproar, and, before…

November 3, 2017

Promise and Act

In the early years of Joash, the house of David hangs by a thread (2 Chronicles 23). Its entire future rests in a baby, Joash son of Ahaziah, whom Jehoiada the priest rescues from Athaliah’s slaughter to be raised among the priests. By every empirical measure, the Davidic dynasty is…

November 3, 2017
Reformation

Wittenberg Under the Ban

Charlotte Methuen's TLS review essay of recent books on the Reformation is the best one-stop summary of recent scholarship I've seen during this season of Ref500 commemorations. In the recent biographies of Luther, you can find Luther the medieval mystic (Volker Leppin), Luther the angry, lonely rebel (Lyndal Roper), Luther…

November 3, 2017

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