Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt…
Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World As I mentioned above, the history of Israel involved several centuries as a church-without-a-culture, and then several centuries as a culture-without-a-city. To be sure, there was an informal culture around the church of the Patriarchs, but the civilization of free farmers…
In the Reformation Tradition we baptize both professing believers and their children. In the case of infants it is now commonly insisted that this is done because the children are already in covenant with God. Baptism is a sign and seal of a previously existing reality. Despite the popularity of…
Concerning Sex & the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf of bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many…
Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato, virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the mumbo-jumbo and — presto! — the sacraments confer…
In 27.2, the Westminster Confession says that because of the “spiritual relation” between sacraments and the things they represent, “the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” Applied to baptism, this means that when the Bible says that we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6), it…
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I published this review in 2017 when my blog was housed at Patheos. It's been buried on the Theopolis site, and it seemed a good time to exhume it. I made some additions and edits. R ichard Rothstein's Color of Law demonstrates that “until the last quarter of the twentieth…
I wrote the following essay in 2013, just after the Supreme Court's decision in Windsor. With the GOP capitulating (as I predicted ) on gay marriage, it's worth running again . Sudden as it seems to some, the Supreme Court’s endorsement of gay marriage in Windsor was a long time…
According to a common narrative, the Frankfurt School of critical theory, which flourished in the first half of the 20 th century, is the source of today’s cultural Marxism. Having failed to win over the proletariat, the story goes, the revisionary Marxists of Frankfurt – Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter…
The first twelve chapters of Isaiah form a chiasm: A. Lord’s opposition to Judah, 1:1-31 B. High things cut; Jerusalem restored, 2:1-4:6 C. Parable of Vineyard and woes, 5:1-30 D. Isaiah and Ahaz, 6:1-9:7 C’. “Hand stretched out”; woe, 9:8-10:4 B’. Woe to Assyrian axe, 10:5-32 A’. Restoration of Judah,…
1. “Shepherds” are royal , not priestly figures (Psalm 80:1). Moses, Joshua, and David are called shepherds, but not Aaron (Exodus 32:34 with Psalm 23:3; Numbers 27:17; Psalm 78:71-72; cf. Psalm 77:20). The Good Shepherd’s rod is iron (Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15; cf. Psalm 2:7-9). 2. “Pastor” = “shepherd.” In…
Perry Marshall’s Evolution 2.0 is a devastating critique of Evolution 1.0, the neo-Darwinian theory Marshall summarizes in the equation, “Random mutation + natural selection + time = Evolution.” His critique focuses primarily on the “random mutation” factor. Scientists have experimented on fruit flies for decades. By causing mutations through radiation,…
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