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Isaiah

The Desert of the Sea

Introduction Isaiah 21 can only be understood in the light of its placement in the architecture of the second “volume” of the prophecy (chapters 13–27). The contents are arranged in twin sevenfold “columns” that represent the great bronze pillars of Solomon’s Temple: Jachin and Boaz, priest and king. The priestly…

by Mike BullFebruary 20, 2025
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Isaiah

Jesus Enthroned on the Zodiac

A Biblical Reflection on the Purpose of the Constellations The starry heavens hold a place of wonder in the hearts of men. Since man’s creation we have looked up into the heavens and have beheld its glory. This is particularly true of the night sky. The stars, in their shinning…

by Matthew DarbyFebruary 19, 2025
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Matthew

An Overall Chiasm around Six Discourses in the Gospel According to Matthew  

The case for there being five discourses within the Gospel according to Matthew is a hard one to challenge: surely the closing formula “when Jesus finished these sayings” as found in 8:1, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, and 26:1 settles it once and for all. And by the five instances of the…

by Benoit EngelFebruary 13, 2025
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Matthew

Exegesis of the Great Commission

The Long Commission The Great Commission of Matthew 28 has long been a cornerstone of American Evangelicalism. It has formed and fashioned the American church’s missional impulse. Yet when viewed from the wide lens of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, the Great Commission is revealed as one of the pillars…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 11, 2025
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Lord's Supper

Genuine Paedocommunion

I am delighted to see that more and more churches in the Reformed tradition are now recognizing that all baptized children are members of the body of Christ and therefore ought to be communing with the rest of the body at the Lord’s Table. This has been decades in the…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 6, 2025
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Twitter and Emotional Sabotage

Good leaders have always been rare. In today’s world, they seem extinct. Joe Rigney’s recent book Leadership and Emotional Sabotage digs into the spiritual reasons for the leadership epidemic and recommends cures. Rigney starts with a summary of a book by Edwin Friedman called A Failure of Nerve . Friedman’s…

by Christian LeithartFebruary 4, 2025

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Theology

Hauerwas on “Radical Democracy”

Stanley Hauerwas gave an interesting paper offering a Christian defense of “Radical Democracy.” He covered some of the work of John Howard Yoder, who on Hauerwas’ reading is by no means politically quietist, albeit he is a pacifist. The most interesting portion of the lecture, though, was Hauerwas’ summary of…

November 25, 2004
Theology

Hauerwas on “Radical Democracy”

Stanley Hauerwas gave an interesting paper offering a Christian defense of “Radical Democracy.” He covered some of the work of John Howard Yoder, who on Hauerwas’ reading is by no means politically quietist, albeit he is a pacifist. The most interesting portion of the lecture, though, was Hauerwas’ summary of…

November 25, 2004

Sermon Outline, First Sunday in Advent

INTRODUCTION Advent (the word means ?coming?E focuses our attention on the incarnation of the Son of God, but the incarnation of the Son of God not only tells us about the Son. The Son became incarnate so that He could reveal God to us, all of God, Father, Son and…

November 25, 2004

Placing the Name

Sandra Richter gave a very stimulating paper on the use of the phrase “place my name there” in Deuteronomy. Her main concern was to argue that the “place where my name dwells” in Dt 12 is fulfilled within Dt in chapter 27, with the ceremony of covenant-renewal at Mount Ebal.…

November 23, 2004
Biblical Studies

De Lubac and the Bible

There were a few interesting insights from the session on de Lubac and biblical interpretation at SBL this morning. Margaret Adam of Duke presented a comparative study of Frei and de Lubac, arguing that Frei’s notion of a “stretchy literal sense” does not do justice to the complexity of Scripture,…

November 21, 2004
Theology

RO, Augustine, and Borders

Hans Boersma offered an interesting critique of the notion of “borders” in Radical Orthodoxy and some of its fellow travelers, especially concerning their relationship to Augustine’s conception of the city of God. The two terms of his analysis were “ontology of peace” and “oppositional logic,” and he argued that these…

November 21, 2004

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