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Advent

Advent and Christmas Music Recommendations

Inspired by our recent podcast on Christmas and Advent music recommendations, we offer here a list of excellent recordings that are sure to enrich your Advent and Christmas season. Praetorius: Mass for Christmas Morning Paul McCreesh with the Gabrieli Consort and Players Amazon | Spotify | Apple Music 2. Christmas…

by John Ahern and Paul BuckleyDecember 23, 2020
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Advent

Between the Altar and the City: Isaiah 65:17-25

In the year 1483 in the city of Nuremberg, the leaders of the renowned Saint Lawrence Church were seeking to redesign their altar, and above the table where the priests presided over the eucharist, they wanted new art installed above the prestigious Krell altar. What they decided on took everyone…

by Casey BedellDecember 22, 2020
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Advent

Why We're the Real Seventh Day Adventists

The consequences of disobedience start with exile from the garden of God and the Tree of Yahweh, but they do not end there. They cascade down through the structure of the dynastic order. Everything which had previously been given in the Kingdom of Elohim is either taken back or curtailed…

by Jerry BowyerDecember 18, 2020
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Biblical Studies

Psalm 23: A Lesson in Reading Biblical Poetry

Parallelism: A Course Correction If you have ever studied Hebrew poetry, you have probably heard its basic poetic feature described as “parallelism.” Hebrew poetry is not metered, it does not rhyme, it does not employ many of the common poetical tropes, but its distinctive (and almost universal) feature is commonly…

by Ryan HandermannDecember 15, 2020
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Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 17 and the Separation of Powers

In The Crown and the Courts , David C. Flatto traces the development of the idea of judicial independence in Jewish commentaries on the Scriptures – particularly Deuteronomy 17 – from the Second Temple and early rabbinic periods. These periods roughly span 400 BC to 300 AD. Flatto does not…

by James R. RogersDecember 11, 2020
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Advent

Zechariah and John: A Story in Names

A curious feature of the Infancy Narratives in the Gospel of Luke is the naming of John the Baptist. When the angel appears to Zechariah, he is instructed to give his promised son the name John (Luke 1:13). On the day of John’s circumcision, Luke tells us that “they [presumably…

by Rhys LavertyDecember 8, 2020

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How Change Happens

T he world is full of activists and “change agents,” but Duncan Green doesn’t think anyone has a clear idea of how social change occurs. In How Change Happens , he offers elements of a theory of change, along with case studies and some practical direction for people who want…

September 23, 2016

Postmodern Manicheanism

I n his published conversation with Zygmunt Bauman about Liquid Evil , Leonidas Donskis observes that “ Optimism is, above all, a Christian construction – it’s based on the faith that good can overcome evil and that unexplored possibilities and alternatives can always be found.” As Christianity’s influence has declined…

September 23, 2016

Dylan a'Changin'

F ew pop stars have been as mercurial as Bob Dylan. Folk singer, rock star, gospel singer, a mimic of James Dean, Christian, Jew. Each change in his musical trajectory has been accompanied by a change of personality. Even his voice has changed over his decades of fame. As Andrew…

September 23, 2016

Abraham's Fourfold Genealogy

A braham’s genealogy in 1 Chronicles 1 can’t seem to get off the ground. He’s identified as father of “Isaac and Ishmael” (v. 28), but the genealogy that follows goes off with 12 sons of Ishmael (the genealogy is enclosed with Ishmael’s name, vv. 29–31) and leave Isaac behind. Finally,…

September 22, 2016

Confusion of Humanity, Reign of God

A s everyone now knows, 2016 has been dubbed the year of the “Flight 93 Election” by an anonymous writer with a Latin pseudonym. The piece in the Claremont Review of Books is a frontal assault on conservative intellectuals and an “it’s worth a try” defense of Trumpism. As he…

September 22, 2016

Communio Beyond Ecclesiology

C ommunio has been a key concept in Roman Catholicism over the past century, but David L. Schindler ( Heart of the World, Center of the Church ) observes that it has a more-than-ecclesial scope. It implies a certain relation between the church and the world, and a vision of…

September 21, 2016

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