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

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Biblical Studies

Biblical Allusion and the Meaning of Othello

Understanding Shakespeare’s Biblical references is vital for the interpretation of many, if not all, of Shakespeare’s plays. For Othello , it is especially important, not only because the interpretation of the play is contested among various approaches — feminist, homosexual, post-colonial, Marxist, Freudian, new historical, and others — but also…

by Ralph Allan SmithJune 16, 2017
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Ecclesiology

Attaining Unity: A Reply to Mike Allen

Mike Allen of Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, scores some points in his review of The End of Protestantism . He lodges the fair complaint that my rhetoric sometimes outruns my evidence. He argues that more stress on the present reality of the church’s unity deepens the tragedy of division; divisions…

by Peter LeithartJune 13, 2017
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Eschatology

Comic Trinity

I begin with two observations. First, on any millennial view, the Christian account of history is progressive, moving from the garden to the city. It is eschatological not only in that there is an end, but that the end is a glorified beginning, not merely a return to origins. To…

by Peter LeithartJune 8, 2017
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Ecclesiology

Political Church

The church is a new form of polity that erupts into the world as much as the Son of God comes into the world. It’s a real-world political alternative to the polities of the ancient world. It resolves many of the political dilemmas of the ancient world, though not simply…

by Peter LeithartJune 6, 2017
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Baptism

Baptism Impasse: Baptists vs. Presbyterians, (Part 2)

In my last post , I explained how Baptists really have a “one-ordinance-one sacrament” ecclesiology. I said this: “what Baptists really believe, in modern parlance, is that there is one ordinance (baptism which is a sign or symbol only) and one sacrament (the Lord’s Supper in which feeding upon Jesus…

by Mani MarprelateMay 30, 2017
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Political Theology

Obedience of Rulers

One of the most extensive and penetrating responses to the Yoder-Hauerwas attack on Constantiniansm is found in Oliver O’Donovan’s Desire of Nations , in a chapter entitled “The Obedience of Rulers.” O’Donovan defines the word “Christendom” as “a historical idea,” specifically “the idea of a professedly Christian secular political order,…

by Peter LeithartMay 30, 2017

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God in the Dock

Some reflections on the trial of Yahweh in the book of Isaiah over at the Trinity House site .

September 24, 2014

Hollow Crown

David is already failing as king before he takes Bathsheba. Instead of being on the field with his men, he’s lazing around back home. His men have taken vows to refrain from sex with their wives; David not only enjoys his own wives, but takes another man’s, one of the…

September 23, 2014

Who Condemns?

Idolatry has deprived Israel of her senses. This was one of the early messages to Isaiah (Isaiah 6). Yahweh sent him out to a people who had been deprived of their senses because of their commitment to idols. They become like the idols they serve. They still have eyes, but…

September 23, 2014

Hinterlands

Paul Helm has a remarkable article on the uses and limits of Confessions. He points to the work of Chad Van Dixhoorn, whose investigations into the Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly have uncovered the pressures, personalities, and clashes behind the Westminster Confession. As Helm says, “In the nature…

September 23, 2014

Charismatic Leadership

Hao Wu knows why people are blown away by Alibaba Founder and CEO Jack Ma. As an employee of the company, Hao Wu was awed from his first management meeting in 2007: “I heard founder and CEO Jack Ma say that Alibaba is a great company, not because it has…

September 23, 2014

How the Kingdom Comes

Seven angels have appeared. They are given trumpets, but before they start there is an “interlude” as an eighth angel offers incense and then throws coals from the altar to earth (Revelation 8:3-5). When he does, the phenomena of the throne (Revelation 4:5) are replicated on earth. At the end…

September 22, 2014

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