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Writing

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

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City

The City of Cain

Not long ago, I heard these statistics about New York City: New York City is in $100 billion in debt. 20% of all NYC residents are on food stamps, which cost $250 million a month. 5% of NYC population are on disability, costing $252 million a month. Other assistance costs…

by Richard BledsoeJune 25, 2020
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Empire

Twenty-Five Theses on Empire

1. All political power is ambivalent. Vertical violence of “the state” tends to limit horizontal and contested power between people and between tribes. “The State” brings new oppression, but also a measure of new peace and unity. 2. All political formations are ambiguous like this: a strong family conquers weaker…

by John MilbankJune 23, 2020
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Coronavirus

Virtual Gnosticism and the Church – some disturbing thoughts about Covid19

Gnosticism by any other name would smell the same. But does the church have much of a theological sense of smell, these days, when it comes to the seductions of virtuality in our worshipping communities? Social isolation during a global pandemic makes good public health sense, but whether church should…

by Paul TysonJune 16, 2020
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American Culture

The Priorities of Priests and Protests

It is a remarkable thing, you know, this thing called priority. Just a few weeks ago, religious leaders were boldly asserting in their high-dollar online videos that it was too dangerous to return to worship and that we needed to listen to our political and health leaders. "They are the…

by Uri BritoJune 15, 2020
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James

Anger, Riots, Violence, & Justice: How the Epistle of James Came to be Written

Somewhere in the city of Jerusalem on a rooftop just a few years after the ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost. . . ". . . and just when are you guys going to live up to your ‘Sons of Thunder’ reputation? Huh? A lot…

by Jeff MeyersJune 9, 2020
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Proverbs

Lady Wisdom Eve

In my book, Solomon Says: Directives for Young Men ( Amazon , Kindle ) I mention that Solomon portrays wisdom as a woman. But I don’t ask (or answer!) why he did so. Solomon uses the figure of Lady Wisdom without apology or explanation: Wisdom cries aloud in the street,…

by Mark HorneJune 2, 2020

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More on Hart, The Beauty of the Infinite

Part 2: A Dogmatica Minora Section 1: Trinity Hart ended the previous section emphasizing that Christianity offers a story of the infinite that is also, contrary to all paganism, a story of beauty. To fill out this Christian narrative of infinite beauty, Hart focuses on the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed as ?the…

May 31, 2005

Translation, 2 Kings 3

Now Yhoram son of ‘Achav reigned-as-king over Yisrael in Shimron in the year, the 18th, to Yhoshafat king of Yehudah. And he reigned-as-king two and ten years. And he did the evil in the eyes of Yahweh only not as his father and as his mother. And he caused-to-turn-aside the…

May 30, 2005

Mother-land

In 2 Kings 2, Elisha heals a “barren land,” a land described as “causing miscarriage” or as “abortive” itself. The land is mother, and the new “father” of the prophets sows salt to heal the land and make it fruitful. 2 Kings 3 picks up on this mother-land analogy. Elisha…

May 30, 2005

Whiners

Jehoram goes out into the wilderness with Jehoshaphat, and as soon as he encounters a bit of difficulty, he crumples, blaming his bad fortune on Yahweh’s perfidy: “Yahweh has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” He had a good teacher: When Ahab received the…

May 30, 2005

Jericho and Moab

Jehoram the son of Ahab wants to suppress the rebellion of Mesha, king of Moab (2 Kings 3). He gains the support of Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom, and then marches into the wilderness. They “go around” seven days and then find there is no water. Jehoshaphat, typically, asks…

May 30, 2005

Tertullian on baptism and resurrection

In his treatise on the resurrection of the flesh, Tertullian makes an intriguing connection between the phenomenology of baptism and the resurrection of the body. Baptism, he points out, is a corporeal rite, and this washing of the body points ot a resurrection of the body: “unless it were a…

May 30, 2005

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