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

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The Lady and Her Jewels: An Epiphany Meditation

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery (Revelation 12:1-2). Then Joshua spoke…

by Richard BledsoeJanuary 6, 2015
extreme-unction
Anointing

Fattening Our Suffering

In his post asking Ought we Anoint the Dying? Peter Leithart makes an excellent and important point about our suffering as members of Christ. However, he only parenthetically mentions that the verb in question in James 5 is not chrio but aleipho . By assuming that these words are interchangeable,…

by Robert MaddoxDecember 30, 2014
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James

Death as Frenemy

We spend a lot of time in the church talking about what it means to live like a Christian. But what does it mean to die like a Christian? If we are to follow Christ in life, what does it mean for us to follow him in death as well?…

by Rich LuskDecember 23, 2014
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Literature

Was Shakespeare A Christian?

How would one go about answering the question posed by my title? That depends on what the question means. Obviously, different definitions of the question would require different approaches to an answer. Right off hand, I can think of at least three possible — though not necessarily mutually exclusive —…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 23, 2014
day-2-ferguson-protests-nationwide
American Culture

Phobophobia

In recent weeks and months, we have seen events that are not the event. The drama around these events is not the events themselves, but the anxiety about the events, and then even the anxiety about the anxiety about the events. That is the real event. The events in Ferguson,…

by Richard BledsoeDecember 22, 2014
anointing-david
Anointing

Ought We Anoint the Dying?

Anointing the sick, including the dying, is one of the traditional seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. The Reformers denied that the rite qualified as a sacrament. Formally, this was because anointing did not have a direct authorization from Jesus; more theologically, it was not one of the marks that…

by Peter LeithartDecember 18, 2014

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Ritual in Malachi 1

This passage is one of a series of challenges that the ?messenger of the Lord?Eissues to the people and priests of Israel. Verses 6-14 are specifically directed to the priests (v. 6). The entire passage is organized in a loosely chiastic structure: A. The Priests dishonor their Father and master,…

May 10, 2005
Theology

Sign and Signified

Is the issue of the theory of signs perhaps simply the question of where one places the distinction of signifier/signified? In Christian creationist perspective, everything created is signifier of God. This is its most fundamental essence and purpose, to show forth the glory of creator. Thus, the line separating signifier…

May 10, 2005

Sermon outline, Pentecost Sunday

INTRODUCTION Pentecost is a new beginning, when the Spirit that hovered over the waters of the first creation forms the church into a new creation (Genesis 1:2). Pentecost is also a reversal of Babel, as the nations divided by tongues are reunited by a miracle of tongues. Pentecost is the…

May 10, 2005
Theology

Liberalism and Not-So-Postliberalism

The following includes some material from published essays, but also includes new material. In his third lecture on the ?Essence of Christianity,?Edelivered at the turn of the century, Adolf von Harnack expressed a common modern understanding of the nature of Christianity: “Anyone who wants to know what the kingdom of…

May 10, 2005

The Promise of Covenant Theology

Covenant theology has great promise: it highlights the fact that redemption takes place in the real world, that redemption involves the creation of a new community, and that the community is necessarily marked out by signs, rites, words, conduct. But the language of covenant theology sometimes leaves the impression that…

May 10, 2005

Calvin on Sacraments

The following are tentative notes, reflections, criticisms, and interactions with Calvin?s understanding of sacraments in general in Book 4 of the Institutes. 4.14.1 Calvin calls the sacraments ?another aid to our faith related to the preaching of the gospel.?E Several questions occur to me. First, what are the other ?aids…

May 10, 2005

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