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

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Epistemology

A Cheer for the Mystics

Mystical theologians are often unguarded, extreme, un-nuanced, pressing to the edges of heresy, sometimes beyond. Still, the mystics are worthy of study. Why? Many reasons. Unlike some late medieval and post-Reformation dogmaticians, mystical theologians are often instinctively and richly Trinitarian. Historical-critical approaches to Scripture left mystical theologians virtually untouched; mystics…

by Peter LeithartSeptember 2, 2013
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Literature

Shadow and Substance in Shakespeare's Venice

Portia of Belmont is a “lady richly left,” as Bassanio says of her in the first Act of The Merchant of Venice . Plus, she’s beautiful and wise. Suitors clamber to Belmont in hope. Her father knew it would be so, and in his will set up a fairy-tale test…

by Peter LeithartAugust 28, 2013
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Liturgy

Liturgy Traps

[fve]http://vimeo.com/72195198[/fve]

by James B. JordanAugust 26, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Victory Food

In the nature of the case, “the” Christian meditation on Deuteronomy 14:1-21 cannot be written. Meditation offers too many possibilities, opens too many doors. There is not one and only one correct set of associations for a Christian to consider when thinking of Deuteronomy 14:1-21. We could, for example, consider…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 21, 2013
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Romans

David's Sin and Israel's Salvation, Part I

Having retold the story of the cumulative sin of Israel leading to the great atonement on the cross, Paul then reemphasizes that, just as both Jew and Gentiles were locked into sin and judgment, now they are both justified by faith: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.…

by Mark HorneAugust 20, 2013
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Deuteronomy

You are what you eat

Deuteronomy 14 is full of allusions to events of Israel’s history and other portions of Scripture. What would an Israelite learn by mediation on these allusions? The answer, I believe, is at least fourfold. Faith, Worship, War For the ancient Israelite first hearing Moses’ sermon, or perhaps hearing it read…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 15, 2013

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History

Pentecostalism

Philip Jenkins’ The Next Christendom is packed with stimulating historical insights. But this is one of the most striking: Most ?listings of major trends of the past century?Ehave ?rightly devoted much space to political movements like fascism and communism, but ignored vital religious currents like Pentecostalism. Yet today, Fascists or…

May 14, 2005

Fenrir’s bonds

The Edda records: “The unbreakable fetters which bound down the Great Wolf Fenrir had been cunningly forged by Loki from these: the footfall of a cat, the roots of a rock, the beard of a woman, the breath of a fish, the spittle of a bird.” Who knows what that…

May 13, 2005

Fenrir’s bonds

The Edda records: “The unbreakable fetters which bound down the Great Wolf Fenrir had been cunningly forged by Loki from these: the footfall of a cat, the roots of a rock, the beard of a woman, the breath of a fish, the spittle of a bird.” Who knows what that…

May 13, 2005
Philosophy

Literary Wittgenstein

Terry Eagleton reviews a new book on The Literary Wittgenstein (edited by John Gibson and Wolfgang Huemer) in the April 29 issue of the TLS. There are a number of highlights: 1) Eagleton sets Wittgenstein firmly in the glitzy, kitchy world of Vienna. “The place,” he writes, “was a cockpit…

May 13, 2005

Justification and eschatology

The notion of a “future justification” has come under criticism from some Reformed writers, though the idea has a fairly established place in Reformed thought (beginning at least with Vos). The opposition to the idea suggests that some Reformed soteriology is eschatologically schizophrenic. Consider: It seems clear that adoption is…

May 12, 2005
Theology

Infra/Supra and Narrative theology

Awhile back, I suggested some reasons for leaning toward supralapsarianism. Here’s some more: Infra seems to lack an eschatology. Creation is made, the fall is decreed, and then salvation is seen as a rescue from the fall. In supra, creation is never considered apart from a consummation. Salvation is not…

May 10, 2005

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