Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Part 1 We do not understand the role of women in ministry because we do not understand the role of men in ministry. We do not understand the role of men in ministry because we do not understand the church. We do not understand the church because the consumer culture…
1. One structure The Creation account (G1:1-2:4) conspicuously conveys meaning using the literary shape of the text. The narrative is told with formulaic patterns, repetitions, and parallelism. The Garden account is different. It is viewed as a separate text, with its own author, employing its own structure. This second account’s…
I was reading James Jordan’s Creation in Six Days while also preparing for Trinity Sunday in which the gospel reading is John 3:1-15. As providence would have it Jordan dropped an easter egg for me along the lines of baptism. In chapter 5 he points out, “ On the second…
It's true. There is no verse in the New Testament that commands or records an infant baptism. This poses a problem for some Christians. Those who only look for explicit commands, or those whose theology is limited to the New Testament, will conclude that infant baptism is not biblical and…
1. Goal This paper’s goal is to identify and describe a literary strategy employed by scripture, namely using two episodes that cover similar territory or themes using details drawn from opposite ends of a number of spectrums. Once described the reader may recognize numerous other instances of this strategy in…
Numbers 14 records the tragic story of Israel’s decision to rebel against Yahweh and Moses. Twelve spies had been sent into the land to bring back a report to Israel. All twelve spies agreed: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey”…
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Ecclesiastes is for many Christians the strangest book in the Bible. It seems especially strange in comparison with Proverbs. Proverbs is encouraging and comforting. It tells us that those who pursue wisdom will attain it, and that with wisdom will come wealth and power and all sorts of other blessings.…
An old Pentecostal riff, in shadowy imitation of Christopher Smartt . Why celebrate Pentecost? Because the Spirit is the hovering wind that forms the formlessness, fills the void, brightens the darkness. Because the Spirit is the breath that gives Adam life. Because the Lord comes into the garden in the…
Last week at First Things , Sohrab Ahmari launched a blistering barrage against the views, public posture, and political theology of National Review's David French. In place of French's "earnest and insistently polite" demeanor, his insistence on civility and his appeals to pluralism, his struggle to carve out a safe…
What determines prices? Supply and demand, says anyone with a modicum of training in economics. Right, says Barry C. Lynn ( Cornered ): "In any open market that is populated by many small buyers and many small sellers, if the producers try to raise their prices high enough to make…
Well, here’s something interesting. At least it interested me. “Male” (Heb. zakar ) first appears in Genesis 1:27, paired with female (Heb. neqevah ). God creates ‘adam male and female, in His image and likeness. For the next several chapters of Genesis, zakar is always paired with neqevah . Genesis…
Romans 1:18-32 is is part of a section that goes at least to the end of chapter 3. More nearly, the subsection beginning at 1:18 goes to about 2:11. It's hard to find where the seams in the text are, but there are reasons to think that this section doesn’t…
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