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Writing

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

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Technology

Simulation as Inoculation

Every advent of new media creates the justifiable reaction from some that the necessarily accompanied amputation may not be worth the extension made possible by the new tools. This is not unique to the Digital Age. Lamoignon Malesherbes, the French politician who was counsel for the defense of Louis XVI,…

by Garrett SoucyApril 2, 2024
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Eschatology

Reject Optimism

A response to Gage Crowder's " The Hole in our Hope ?" Already, the first pages of the Bible promise a bright future. The story starts with the creation of heaven and earth, where heaven is perfect, but the earth is in a state of formless emptiness. Yet, God takes…

by Bogumil JarmulakMarch 27, 2024
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Eschatology

The Hole in our Hope? A Rejoinder

A rejoinder to Bubu Jarmulak's essay, " Embrace Pessimism ." Whereas calumnious critiques are reflections of more on the critic than the work criticized, good critiques are always opportunities for reassessment and improvement if they are received as such . Since its renaissance, the biblical doctrine of postmillennialism—or “optimistic eschatology,”…

by Gage CrowderMarch 26, 2024
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Biblical Studies

Jesus Did Not Pray to Avoid the Cross at Gethsemane

Several decades ago, a pastor (and friend) mentioned in passing at one of our regular breakfasts together that he wasn’t satisfied with the usual reading of Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane, the usual reading being that Jesus asked the Father to avoid the Cross at Gethsemane. We turned to the passage,…

by James R. RogersMarch 19, 2024
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Church Music

Holy Toledo: A Critique of Eclecticism

On May 21, 1604, the cathedral of Toledo in Spain held job interviews for the post of choirmaster, the head of music at the church. The position had been vacated when the previous occupant, Alonso Lobo, was poached by the nearby cathedral of Seville, and Toledo needed a replacement who…

by John AhernMarch 5, 2024
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Covenant

The Docetic Covenant and Phantom Church Membership

Imagine — counterfactually: on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus held up an empty hand and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant poured out for you. Drink of it.’ But there was no cup, no wine, nothing. If there’s no sign of the covenant, is there…

by John CarpenterFebruary 27, 2024

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Da Vinci Code

Ben Witherington III has an excellent review of the errors of Dan Brown ‘s The Da Vinci Code in the May/June 2004 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review . Brown’s book would be comparatively harmless fiction but for the fact that he begins the book with the claim that “all descriptions…

May 3, 2004

What Kind of Religion Is Islam?

French historian Alain Besancon raises this question in a fine article in Commentary . He suggests that religions can be classified as either revealed or natural, and asks whether Christians and Jews can regard Islam as either of these. Christians and Jews cannot consider Islam a revealed religion, he claims,…

May 3, 2004

Richard Clarke

Joshua Muravchik has a devastating analysis of Richard Clarke and his book in the May 2004 issue of Commentary . He compares Clarke’s book to a comic book, with Clinton playing SuperPresident and the Bush administration as the enemy of the people. The most amusing note in the article is…

May 3, 2004

Gay Marriage

New Republic legal correspondent Jeffrey Rosen argues that there are built-in brakes on the spread of gay marriage from Massachusetts to the rest of the country. Opponents of gay marriage fear that gay couples will flock to Massachusetts, get married, and return home to demand that their marriages be recognized…

May 3, 2004

Kerry’s Strategy

Ryan Lizza describes Kerry’s current campaign strategy as a version of Muhammed Ali’s old “rope-a-dope” technique. While Bush hammers away with hooks and uppercuts, Kerry just stays on the robes and takes a beating. Meanwhile, he has been raising tons of money, which he can save to use after Bush…

May 3, 2004

Kerry’s Strategy

Ryan Lizza describes Kerry’s current campaign strategy as a version of Muhammed Ali’s old “rope-a-dope” technique. While Bush hammers away with hooks and uppercuts, Kerry just stays on the robes and takes a beating. Meanwhile, he has been raising tons of money, which he can save to use after Bush…

May 3, 2004

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