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

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Epistemology

A Cheer for the Mystics

Mystical theologians are often unguarded, extreme, un-nuanced, pressing to the edges of heresy, sometimes beyond. Still, the mystics are worthy of study. Why? Many reasons. Unlike some late medieval and post-Reformation dogmaticians, mystical theologians are often instinctively and richly Trinitarian. Historical-critical approaches to Scripture left mystical theologians virtually untouched; mystics…

by Peter LeithartSeptember 2, 2013
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Literature

Shadow and Substance in Shakespeare's Venice

Portia of Belmont is a “lady richly left,” as Bassanio says of her in the first Act of The Merchant of Venice . Plus, she’s beautiful and wise. Suitors clamber to Belmont in hope. Her father knew it would be so, and in his will set up a fairy-tale test…

by Peter LeithartAugust 28, 2013
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Liturgy

Liturgy Traps

[fve]http://vimeo.com/72195198[/fve]

by James B. JordanAugust 26, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Victory Food

In the nature of the case, “the” Christian meditation on Deuteronomy 14:1-21 cannot be written. Meditation offers too many possibilities, opens too many doors. There is not one and only one correct set of associations for a Christian to consider when thinking of Deuteronomy 14:1-21. We could, for example, consider…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 21, 2013
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Romans

David's Sin and Israel's Salvation, Part I

Having retold the story of the cumulative sin of Israel leading to the great atonement on the cross, Paul then reemphasizes that, just as both Jew and Gentiles were locked into sin and judgment, now they are both justified by faith: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.…

by Mark HorneAugust 20, 2013
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Deuteronomy

You are what you eat

Deuteronomy 14 is full of allusions to events of Israel’s history and other portions of Scripture. What would an Israelite learn by mediation on these allusions? The answer, I believe, is at least fourfold. Faith, Worship, War For the ancient Israelite first hearing Moses’ sermon, or perhaps hearing it read…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 15, 2013

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Judge Judged and Judging

Marcus shows that Daniel 7, cited in Mark 14:62, is lurking behind the trial narrative as a whole. Daniel 7 tells about judgment being passed against the bestial empires in favor of the people of the saints of the most high, with the result that all dominion and power is…

January 19, 2006

Inference

According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, “The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture.” But what counts as a “good and…

January 19, 2006

Mark and Psalm 2

Marcus notes that Mark’s attention to Psalm 2 is not exhausted by quoting the words from heaven at Jesus’ baptism: “the whole series of pericopes in 1:9-11, 12-13, 14-15 reflects the basic ‘plot’ of the psalm, and its influence may extend further into Mark’s story. The enemy forces, concretizations of…

January 19, 2006

Way of Yahweh, Way of Jesus

Joel Marcus’ study of Mark’s use of Scripture ( The Way of the Lord , W/JK, 1992) begins with an illuminating discussion of the opening verses of the gospel. The quotation from Isaiah brings the whole of Isaiah’s second-exodus eschatology into play, with Jesus playing the role of the triumphant…

January 19, 2006
Literature

AC Bradley’s Hamlet

AC Bradley’s 1904 lectures on Shakespearean tragedy are deservedly regarded as classics of criticism. His analysis of Hamlet is deservedly famous, particularly his discussion of the famed problem of Hamlet’s delay. He classifies theories of the delay into several large categories. First are those that suggest that Hamlet delays mainly…

January 19, 2006
Literature

AC Bradley’s Hamlet

AC Bradley’s 1904 lectures on Shakespearean tragedy are deservedly regarded as classics of criticism. His analysis of Hamlet is deservedly famous, particularly his discussion of the famed problem of Hamlet’s delay. He classifies theories of the delay into several large categories. First are those that suggest that Hamlet delays mainly…

January 19, 2006

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