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Writing

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

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Biblical Theology

Look to the Birds

The Bible reader that is mindful of patterns, is aware of the creation markers of Noah's flood. The Earth is deformed and is made into a ball of water, which then is made new with new promises and obligations to the New Adam (Noah) and his offspring. One of the…

by Matthew CoreyOctober 12, 2021
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Art

The Ethical Nude

Exposing Nakedness “Picasso did not paint for the eyes but for the gut. He painted for the gut that the eyes might be opened.” I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces. (Job 16:12) One only has to…

by Mike BullOctober 5, 2021
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Coronavirus

A Modest Proposal

For preventing the unvaccinated people in Mississippi from being a burden on their friends, teachers, or waiters, and for making them beneficial to the public. Dr. Jonathan Swift It is a melancholy object to those who walk through a great southern college town, or travel throughout Mississippi, when they see…

by Jonathan BarlowSeptember 28, 2021
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Coronavirus

The COVID Regime as Stoicheic Order

Throughout the world, governments are aggressively pushing COVID vaccines. Some have instituted mandates or vaccine passports. Many are losing patience with the unvaccinated, even proposing that they have forfeited the right to certain health services . The unvaccinated have become deplorables—the undeserving sick. This COVID regime has been bolstered by…

by James WoodSeptember 21, 2021
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Biblical Chronology

Groping Through the Gaps

Although nowadays gap theories are associated with dispensationalism, it was not always so. In the nineteenth century, scholars from a variety of backgrounds (Anglican, Reformed, and proto-fundamentalist) seem to have become fascinated by gaps. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, this piece will acquaint you…

by James B. JordanSeptember 14, 2021
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Biblical Studies

Snakes and Ladders

What kind of father gives his son a stone when he asks for bread, or a serpent when he asks for a fish? The answer is, the Heavenly Father! Jesus rarely stated the obvious, and this particular question in His Sermon on the Mount concerning the fatherhood of God is…

by Mike BullSeptember 7, 2021

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Structure in Revelation 21:1-5

Revelation 21:1 concludes the last section of chapter 20, but also inaugurates a new section of the text. It's a Janus passage, looking both back and forward. 21:1-8 concludes the large section begun in 17:1-2, the fourth “in Spirit” vision of the book. The section is divided into smaller bits…

July 27, 2015

No Temple

A city descends from heaven (Revelation 21:9ff). It's laid out as a cube, like the Most Holy Place. It's measured, like other holy environments in the Bible. It is adorned with jewels - precious stones like the stones of the temple or on the high priest's breastpiece. It's a golden…

July 27, 2015

Bloody Monday and Other Atrocities

Will Herberg ( Protestant Catholic Jew ) summarizes the American response to the growth of the Irish Catholic population of the US. Tension simmered throughout the middle antebellum decades of the nineteenth century, as nearly 2 million Irish, mostly Catholic, immigrated: “The Irish, precisely because in language, manners, and culture,…

July 27, 2015

What Rational Choice Theory Misses

At the end of his story of Texas Christianity ( Rough Country ), Robert Wuthnow assesses the strengths and weaknesses of two major theoretical perspectives on modern religion - secularization theory and rational choice theory. Secularization theory misses a lot: “It underplays the continuing importance of agriculture and the rural…

July 27, 2015

Satan Bound and Loosed

The sequence of events in Revelation 20 has some puzzles. Jesus has defeated the beast and the false prophet and thrown them into the lake of fire (19:1-21). The devil is well in hand, chained in the abyss that is shut and locked. He can't deceive the nations anymore, which…

July 24, 2015

Headless Kings

After the dragon is bound in the abyss, John next sees thrones (Revelation 20:4). His description of the thrones and those who sit on them is arranged chiastically: A. Thrones - they sat on them B. Judgment was given to them C. Souls of the beheaded C'. Those who did…

July 24, 2015

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