Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
What is below is fairly self-explanatory. This is an exchange I had with a local liberal clergyman on the subject of abortion. The circumstances of the debate are included in the text itself. I initially e-mailed this out to a list of clergy in our city after a local (and…
The seemingly humdrum parts of the Bible often hide overlooked wisdom. Take, for example, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Their stories aren't exactly the most gripping or memorable. They are far less concrete than, say, the story of the Exodus. No one in Ezra is stricken blind or devoured…
For most of the past century, philosophical perspectives on life in the western world have been overtly grim and pessimistic. The optimism of the Enlightenment, generated by confidence in the scientific method and the potential of an increasingly civilized humanity to redress the evils of the world, was shattered by…
Chiastic structures are found all over the Bible, and in recent decades commentators have become more adept at spotting them. But identifying these literary structures is only part of the challenge. There remains the challenge of understanding what they mean. Part of the answer is found in the recognition that…
Part 1 can be found HERE . Clearly, more than just getting worship right is important in changing the world, but since worship is the central act of God’s people, performed on the first day of the week at the center of the world before the very face of God,…
“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed.” ( Luke 11:27 ) Arguing for Christian morality in a secular society is difficult. A culture which accepts evolutionary dogma has no intellectual place — or inherent desire — for absolute morality, since it believes morality…
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A wedding sermon from October 11: At the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul describes himself as a “bond-servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” By the last phrase “gospel of God,” Paul was not merely saying that the gospel originates…
Luke 10 moves from the story of the Good Samaritan to the story of Mary and Martha. Though different themes come up, they are closely related issues. First, the Good Samaritan is contrasted with two liturgical specialists, a priest and a Levite, and his ministry to the wounded man suggests…
Robert Gagnon, who has written what has been described as the book on the Bible and homosexuality (still unread by me), offers these illuminating comments on the ancient views of homosexuality in an open letter to ECUSA Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold:<blockquote>First, there were many theories in the Greco-Roman world that…
Sermon outline for October 12: Toward Jerusalem and the Cross, Luke 10:1-42 INTRODUCTION Jesus has embarked on His “way” toward Jerusalem (9:51). Like the angel of Yahweh who went before Israel into the land (Exodus 23:23), so Jesus sends “messengers” before His face as He travels (Luke 10:1). Along the…
Bill Kristol is very concerned for the Bush administration. In the lead editorial in this week’s Weekly Standard , he says that the administration is internally at war, a war that has come to public view in the furor over the leak concerning a CIA agent. There’s no doubt that…
During a literature exam today, one of my students exclaimed (in some frustration) that the Greeks never got over the Trojan War. That’s exactly right. Homer wrote about it, some time after the event. Centuries later, tragedians like Aeschylus (Oresteian trilogy), Sophocles ( Electra ), and Euripides ( Andromache ,…
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