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Writing

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

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Masculinity

Ringing the Brothel Door

Bruce Marshall once wrote that every young man who rings the bell at a brothel is unconsciously looking for God. While it is not necessarily true that the inward desire of every man is ultimately a thirst for righteousness, it is true that every sin is the disordering of a…

by Garrett SoucyOctober 31, 2023
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Ruth

Work and Gratitude in Ruth

In a previous essay , I argued that the story which begins with Lot and culminates in Ruth’s great-grandson David follows God’s five-fold pattern of creative work as laid out by Jim Jordan: taking something in hand (in this case, the Abrahamic family), restructuring it, distributing the product of labor,…

by Josh JensenOctober 27, 2023
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Books

Men, Marriage, and the Feminine Imperative: A Review of "Men and Marriage"

Gilder, George. Men and Marriage. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2023. 1 By 1973, the hightide of second-wave feminism had flooded the beaches of American culture. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique eroded the shores of traditional female roles by naming and stirring up further domestic discontentment. Kate Millet wrote her dissertation-turned-book,…

by Bill SmithOctober 17, 2023
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Galatians

Get Behind Me, Eliphaz!

The Book of Job is a very tortuous book. The arguments of Job and his friends are shot through with truth and error hopelessly mixed together. Every line of contentious poetry stands locked in deadly battle with every other line. As maddening as this can be for a reader who…

by Jonathan WhiteOctober 10, 2023
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Apostle Paul

Before His Conversion, Paul Knew Jesus

More than once in the last 50 years it has occurred to me that Paul might have known Jesus before He appeared to Paul on the Damascus road, but I had never taken up the notion in earnest until recently when I ran into a book by Stanley Porter titled…

by Ralph Allan SmithOctober 4, 2023
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Acts

Did Peter Found the Church in Rome?

The question in the title is genuine, not polemic. I could be perfectly happy to follow an ancient — and what is regarded as a well-attested — tradition. But I do not feel compelled to follow it simply because it is tradition. I would like to have arguments that Peter…

by Ralph Allan SmithSeptember 26, 2023

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Joab’s Wilderness House

Why is the location of Joab?s house mentioned (1 Ki 2:34)? The wilderness is the place of Israel?s 40-year sojourn, prior to the entry into and conquest of the land of Israel. Thus, the reference to the wilderness connects with the Joshua typology that is evident elsewhere in the chapter…

August 20, 2004

Joab’s Execution

Solomon clearly considers his execution of Joab to be an act of justice: Yahweh is bringing the blood that Joab shed back on his own head. And Solomon also indicates that the execution of Joab is necessary to clear David’s house of blood-guilt. This is suggested in two ways. First,…

August 20, 2004

Joab’s Execution

Solomon clearly considers his execution of Joab to be an act of justice: Yahweh is bringing the blood that Joab shed back on his own head. And Solomon also indicates that the execution of Joab is necessary to clear David’s house of blood-guilt. This is suggested in two ways. First,…

August 20, 2004

Translation, 1 Kings 2

A rough and wooden translation of 1 Kings 2. And drew near the days of David to die. And he commanded Shlomoh his son, saying, ?I myself walking in the way of all the earth. You be strong. And you be as a man. Do the guard duty of Yahweh…

August 20, 2004
Philosophy

Bloom on Republic

The late Allan Bloom points out in his interpretive essay on Plato’s Republic that Socrates’ attack on poets is qualified by the fact that he ends the Republic with a myth, the reincarnational myth of Er. Socrates banishes the poets, but offers a return if the poets will submit themselves…

August 19, 2004
Philosophy

Romanticism

According to Robert Solomon’s account, Romanticism did not LEAD to nationalism; it was nationalism. In particular, it was a German nationalist reaction to the perceived threat of French and English Enlightenment thought: “Cosmopolitan philosophers in London or Paris might pretend that they could speak for all humanity, but equally serious…

August 19, 2004

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