Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
First, I love my Christmas songs. This is how I think of it: the season of Advent gets in the way of singing what I want to sing. How can you not listen to Nat King Cole in December? Or Bing Crosby, Harry Connick Jr., and Amy Grant? Even though…
Introduction Imagine the stereotypical American grandparents. Once you have the outline, start filling in the details. What picture emerges? Maybe something like what Ogden Nash said, “When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.” Or maybe the oft-repeated assertion that it’s the grandparent’s job description “to spoil the…
Hundreds of generations of ancient Israelites grew up as children of Abraham, inheritors of the covenant—the promises of God. These promises were more than nice bumper stickers or framed photos to cover empty space in their homes–these promises were at the heart of their very identity–individually and collectively. Genesis “I…
Aliens and Sojourners When the question “Is there life on other planets?” is asked, even the best theologians can only reply, “The Bible doesn’t tell us.” Well, in truth, the Bible does tell us, but only if we are paying attention. …and there was not a man to till the…
John runs a theme throughout his gospel that bubbles under the surface—Jesus is searching for, and finding, a wife. John launches into the narrative proper with a statement of where he’s going. “On the third day there was a wedding” (John 2.1) is about as good an example of flash…
I have come to believe that a great many people are almost too weak to repent in any very open way. There must first be some level of healing. In some cases, including biblical ones, there is not even any evidence of faith on the part of the recipients of…
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"Stay, you are so fair." That is the sentence that Mephistopheles tempts Faust to utter in Goethe's poem. To wish to remain in one moment is to abandon the restlessness of human experience. Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse takes the opposing tack: "Making of the moment something permanent" is the…
"That the kiss is the icon of intimacy is so obvious it is in danger of becoming a cliché," writes Ziyad Marar ( Intimacy , 33). "How many romantic films end, or at least peak, with that image? The orchestra swells, the hearts melt in one long embrace. Just as…
Nathan Mitchell (writing in the Oxford History of Christian Worship , 324) denies that Zwingli taught a "mere symbolist" according to which the Supper "simply served to remind believers of the great benefits bestowed on them through Christ's passion and death." Zwingli wasn't a symbolist "in any modern sense." Mitchell…
Beverly Gaventa ( The Child in the Bible ) points to the role of speech in Romans. Perverse speech is one of the key symptoms of the world of sin; by the cross and resurrection, Jesus has redeemed speech. She points to the inclusio around chapters 1-3: "the indictment itself…
How did the American federal government expand its power and reach? World War I is often cited as a turning point, but Christopher Capozzola's Uncle Sam Wants You shows that this expansion wasn't just a federal project. New forms of political obligations were enforced by local, unofficial forms of force…
Some years ago, I gave a quiz to college-bound high school students. Take it yourself: Finish the following sentences or phrases : With great power . . . . Hasta la vista . . . . Do the . . . (Dew) Shaken, not . . . . Space, the…
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