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

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Tyranny of the Agreeable

Inspired by the “Moscow Mood” Debate In a shocking 1961 study, Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram would don an official-looking white lab coat and tell a volunteer to administer increasing shocks to another “volunteer” in an adjacent room strapped into an “electric chair” just out of sight. The shocks were incrementally…

by John CarpenterJuly 22, 2024
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Apostle Paul

Why Doesn’t Paul Quote Jesus?

My title and the substance of the article are borrowed from a section of David Wenham’s excellent book, Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? I am appropriating ideas from the pages in his book which address the question, “Why Does Paul refer to Jesus’ Life and Ministry so…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 9, 2024
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James

The Epistle of James: Shotgun or Sniper

Some of us may be familiar with the notion that the epistle of James is like a New Testament version of Proverbs or other wisdom literature. According to this line of thinking, the epistle of James (together with the other wisdom literature) is basically a collection of timeless sayings without…

by Chris JohnsonJuly 4, 2024
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Virtue

Doing What You Don’t Want to Do

This summer I started walking a long trail that ran north from our home. On my best days, I would walk a total of five miles at a brisk pace. This trail follows the power lines that serve a significant portion of North Dallas and stretches far past the two…

by Mandi GerthJune 25, 2024
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American Culture

Is Queer Theology Christian?

I am an Australian. I went to the American Academy of Religion mega-fest last year to meet up with some friends, to present a paper at a ‘science and religion’ panel, and to marvel at the sheer scale of how Americans do things. It was quite a ride. Looking at…

by Paul TysonJune 18, 2024
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Ecclesiology

Consumerism, Oikos, and the Role of Women in the Church (Part 4)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 We evangelicals do not often understand the roles of men and women in ministry. Because our consumerist culture has gutted the notion of family as it was historically understood, all Biblical passages about women in church ministry (a familial organism) are almost incomprehensible to…

by John CarpenterJune 11, 2024

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History

It

Some people fascinate. Some people have “It.” But what is It? Yale theater professor Joseph Roach explores this question in his wide-ranging cultural history, entitled simply It (University of Michigan, 2007). Turns out, It is like porn - you know it when you see it, but you can’t quite define…

August 2, 2007

Sermon outline

INTRODUCTION Satan is the adversary, a strong enemy. But Jesus is the stronger man. Satan is never triumphant in Matthew’s gospel. In the power of the Spirit, Jesus is always Christus Victor . THE TEXT “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by…

August 1, 2007
History

Petrification of the church

In his recent La Maison Dieu , Dominique Iogna-Prat asks “How did the Church, in the sense of the community of the faithful, come to take its identity from space bounded by stones.” In the words of the TLS reviewer, Iogna-Prat “offers a history of the ‘petrification’ of Western Christianity…

July 30, 2007

Christ’s blood

In her recent book on blood in medieval theology and piety, Caroline Bynum summarizes the debates concerning blood in the middle ages. The TLS reviewer summarizes: “Bynum begins by describing the debates and practices of the famous controversial pilgrimage to ‘the blood’ at Wilsnack, Brandenburg, to three abused Eucharistic hosts…

July 30, 2007

Christ’s blood

In her recent book on blood in medieval theology and piety, Caroline Bynum summarizes the debates concerning blood in the middle ages. The TLS reviewer summarizes: “Bynum begins by describing the debates and practices of the famous controversial pilgrimage to ‘the blood’ at Wilsnack, Brandenburg, to three abused Eucharistic hosts…

July 30, 2007

1 & 2 Kings

Pauline Viviano has a bit of fun at my expense over on the America website(www.americamagazine.org/blogs/client). She’s “reviewing” my commentary on 1 & 2 Kings, but instead of actually discussing my book, she mocks typological interpretation and my use of it in particular. She knew what I was up to without…

July 24, 2007

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