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Apologetics

A Sabbath Conversation: How Old is the Earth?

As Adam and Eve walked to the center of the Garden of Eden to meet with the LORD on their first Sabbath they conversed about the origin and age of the earth. Adam: You know, honey, we spent a lot of time yesterday making preparations for our house, and we…

by Jeff MeyersOctober 3, 1997
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Biblical Horizons

Psalms for Exile: The Narrative Progression in the Fifth Book of the Psalter

Some of our forefathers believed in reading/singing the psalms in order. Today, when the psalms are even used at all, they tend to be used randomly, though sometimes tied to a church calendar or to the pastor’s sermon. The Bible does not bind us to any particular practice, but there…

by James B. JordanSeptember 4, 1997
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Biblical Chronology

The Anthropomorphic Days of C. John Collins, Part 2

Dr. Collins begins his essay with a brief statement of the Day Age view and then a brief statement of the Six Day view, focussing on the challenge to that view posed by modern "science." He ends this discussion by writing: "Two crucial points are at stake here: first, the…

by James B. JordanSeptember 4, 1997
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Biblical Horizons

Paperweights and the Puzzles of Secularism

In his The Construction of Social Reality , Berkeley philosopher John Searle puzzles over the ontology of the products of human construction. Certain things – granite, platypi, weeping willows – occur naturally; while other realities – stone walls, zoos and parks, Chase Manhattan Bank – exist only as products of…

by Peter LeithartAugust 27, 1997
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Biblical Chronology

The Anthropomorphic Days of C. John Collins, Part 1

In the journal Presbyterion 20 (1994):109-130, published by Covenant Theological Seminary, Dr. C. John Collins sets forth a revision of the Day Age approach in his essay, "How Old Is the Earth? Anthropomorphic Days in Genesis 1:1–2:3." Dr. Collins’s essay has been widely accepted in evangelical Presbyterian circles as an…

by James B. JordanAugust 4, 1997
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Biblical Horizons

The Sin of Ham and the Curse of Canaan, Part 3 (An Exposition of Genesis 9:20-27)

The Righteousness of Shem and Japheth As noted above, the action of Shem and Japheth was purely symbolic. They did not need to cover Noah with a garment, for he was already covered by the tent. Their action was a symbolic affirmation of Noah’s authority, a symbolic rejection of Ham’s…

by James B. JordanAugust 4, 1997

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Economics and Work

Modernity, especially as theorized in modern economics, treats work as "instrumental to the acquisition of goods" (Stephen Marglin, The Dismal Science , 44). Modernity "closes off thinking of hard work as something other than drudgery" (43). As a counterpoint, Marglin calls attention to work in Amish communities: "In physical terms,…

March 23, 2018

Greater Father?

"The Father is greater than I," says Jesus (John 14:28). Eunomius uses this to prove the ontological interiority of the Son. Basil of Caesarea rejects that reading, of course. But his way of rejecting it is worth attending to. He doesn't claim that Jesus is talking about His inferiority as…

March 23, 2018

Secularization Theory As Contestant

Ian Hunter argues that "secularization" as "transition from divine reverencing to rational autonomy" didn't happen during the centuries after Reformation. Confessional Christianity didn't disappear but was more deeply entrenched during that time. "Secular" referred not to the imposition or incursion of rational atheism but to the formation of purely political…

March 22, 2018

Simplicity’s Not So Simple

Is God simple? Christian theologians from the Cappadocians to Aquinas and beyond said Yes. But we need to probe this consensus: Did they mean the same thing by saying Yes? Andrew Radde-Gallwitz says No ( Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Transformation of Divine Simplicity ). What is…

March 22, 2018

Confessionalization v. Secularization

In a debunking paper on "secularization" and the "secular," Ian Hunter argues that "nobody in early modernity spoke of secularization in terms of a transition from divine reverencing to rational autonomy, but also that there is no evidence of such a transition taking place there and, further, that there is…

March 21, 2018

Disdain for Lesser Talent

Richard Spady's eye-opening piece in First Things examines the consequences that follow when economics becomes an ideology, that is, when economics "will­fully projects its own first principles on its subject matter and actively seeks, perhaps unconsciously, material changes to bring social realities into conformity with these first principles." He offers…

March 20, 2018

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