Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Several weeks ago, a picture of a man working at Trader Joe’s went viral. At first glance, it was hard to tell what was worthy of note in the picture—a man simply standing near a cash register. It turns out, the picture went viral not because of what the man…
Among the many allusions in the transfiguration story, one allusion, or rather, one group of allusions, is especially prominent — allusions to Mt. Sinai. The first and least obvious of the allusions to Mt. Sinai is the expression “high mountain” in Matthew and Mark and “the mountain” in Luke. Ancient…
The revelation of Jesus’ glory at the transfiguration is one of the most important stories in the synoptic Gospels. At Jesus’ baptism — the inauguration of New Covenant baptism with the Holy Spirit and the paradigm for Christian baptism — God the Father spoke from heaven: “You are My Son,…
The first section of Proverbs (chapters 1-9) contains two lengthy descriptions of temptations that a young man should resist and avoid (1:10-19 and 7). The two temptations are recruitment into a robber gang and being enticed by an adulterous wife. I've argued before that these are the two perversions of…
Is there a Gospel invitation? To many evangelical Christians, the answer to that question is an unqualified "yes." Some calvinists, reacting against the misleading character of the "altar call," seem less interested in inviting men to anything than they are in sending men away to think about the message they…
Effective pastoral care helps people progress to maturity. Historically, the Christian church worked out the sacramental system to assist people with the various conversions of life. While we Protestants believe in only two sacraments, it is helpful for us to look at the sacramental system, because there is some wisdom…
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Frank Ninkovich’s The Global Republic minimizes the role of “Manifest Destiny” and the belief in American exceptionalism in the global rise of the United States. Instead, “the stimulus for the nation’s ascent to dizzying heights of power, far from emanating from within, was . . . of external origin, an…
A young Jane Fonda stares at you from the cover of Michel Pastoureau’s latest, Green: The History of a Color . She wears a dull brown-and-green tartan dress and leans back against the arm of a green sofa, large green-covered books discarded to one side. She’s smoking, but she’s taken…
In his contribution to Advancing Trinitarian Theology , Stephen Holmes defends the classic notion of divine simplicity, that God’s operations ad extra are undivided. Divine actions, he argues, arise from the eternal relations of origin within the Trinity: “Son and Spirit have a movement from an origin in their eternal…
An alert former student, Stephen Long, corrects my claim that the OT uses “X knew his wife” in only two places. In addition to Genesis 4 and 1 Samuel 1, there’s Genesis 38:26, where Judah “did not know” his daughter-in-law Tamar again. Long writes, “On the one hand, its existence…
I summarize and discuss Adam Kotsko’s socio-cultural version of Christus Victor atonement theology at the Trinity House site .
Calvin quotes Augustine’s Tractates on John ( Institutes 2.16.4) in summarizing God’s motive in sending the Son: “God’s love is incomprehensible and unchangeable. For it was not after we were reconciled to him through the blood of his Son that he began to love us. Rather, he has loved us…
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