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Writing

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

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Culture

Consumerism, Oikos, and the Role of Women in the Church

Part 1 We do not understand the role of women in ministry because we do not understand the role of men in ministry. We do not understand the role of men in ministry because we do not understand the church. We do not understand the church because the consumer culture…

by John CarpenterJuly 11, 2023
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Biblical Theology

Genesis’ Beginning Story

1. One structure The Creation account (G1:1-2:4) conspicuously conveys meaning using the literary shape of the text. The narrative is told with formulaic patterns, repetitions, and parallelism. The Garden account is different. It is viewed as a separate text, with its own author, employing its own structure. This second account’s…

by Scott FairbanksJune 28, 2023
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Baptism

Crystalline Baptism

I was reading James Jordan’s Creation in Six Days while also preparing for Trinity Sunday in which the gospel reading is John 3:1-15. As providence would have it Jordan dropped an easter egg for me along the lines of baptism. In chapter 5 he points out, “ On the second…

by Matthew CoreyJune 20, 2023
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Baptism

Christians Should Baptize Their Children, but Not Because of Circumcision

It's true. There is no verse in the New Testament that commands or records an infant baptism. This poses a problem for some Christians. Those who only look for explicit commands, or those whose theology is limited to the New Testament, will conclude that infant baptism is not biblical and…

by Adam McIntoshJune 13, 2023
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Biblical Studies

Polarities

1. Goal This paper’s goal is to identify and describe a literary strategy employed by scripture, namely using two episodes that cover similar territory or themes using details drawn from opposite ends of a number of spectrums. Once described the reader may recognize numerous other instances of this strategy in…

by Scott FairbanksJune 7, 2023
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Deuteronomy

Kind Capital Punishment

Numbers 14 records the tragic story of Israel’s decision to rebel against Yahweh and Moses. Twelve spies had been sent into the land to bring back a report to Israel. All twelve spies agreed: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey”…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 31, 2023

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Heavenly righteousness

Robert Reymond claims in his recent systematic theology that Christ’s righteousness is in heaven and not on earth within the believer: “the Christian’s righteousness before God is in heaven at the right hand of God in Jesus Christ and not on earth within the believer. It means that the ground…

April 28, 2005

Finnish Luther

Tuomo Mannermaa, Christ Present in Faith: Luther’s View of Justification . Translated by Kirsi Stjerna. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005. 136 pp. For the past twenty-five years, Luther scholars in Finland have been pursuing a revisionary account of Luther’s theology in conjunction with ecumenical dialogues with the Russian Orthodox Church. The Luther…

April 28, 2005
History

Troy and Homer

Joachim Latacz, Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery . Translated by Kevin Windle and Rosh Ireland. Oxford University Press, 2004. 342 pp. Since I was a young teenager, a memory has haunted my mind, a memory of something I never saw: A man running around the…

April 28, 2005

Real sex

Lauren F. Winner, Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity . Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005. 175 pp. Chastity today has almost exclusively negative connotations. Being chaste is not activity; it is avoiding a certain kind of action. Edmund Spenser saw it differently. In Books 3-4 of Fairie Queene , Spenser…

April 28, 2005
Theology

Presbytery Summary

Earlier this year, the Pacific NW Presbytery of the PCA asked me to summarize my views on a number of points that have become controversial. Here is that summary. As a preliminary, let me say a word about how the Confession functions in my theological work. I accept the Calvinistic…

April 27, 2005
Literature

Edward Said and The Way We Read Now

John Sutherland offers an analysis of the influence of the late Edward Said on film adaptations of English literature ( TLS , March 18). Said, for instance, argued in Culture and Imperialism , from a couple of passing references to the Betram family’s holdings in Antigua, that Mansfield Park was…

April 25, 2005

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