Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
(continued from previous issue) Between 30 and 50 What did the Levites do between age 30 and 50? Numbers 4 shows us that they carried the house of God on their shoulders. Lifting up the Lord is an image of worship in the Bible, and David’s restructuring of the Levites…
When God created the world, He created two lands: the Throne-land of Eden (entered through the sanctuary-garden, the Garden of Eden), and the Outlying Lands, such as the lands of Havilah and Cush. This essentially bi-polar world is the world of the Old Creation, and it continued to exist until…
Color is inescapable, except for those who are color blind. In our church architecture, we either employ color schemes that are helpful to worship, or we employ color schemes that are not helpful. Of course, this assertion merely begs the question: What color schemes are most helpful. God showed interest…
As I noted in an earlier article in Rite Reasons , the Church Fathers Tertullian, Ambrose, and Augustine all claimed that baptism inducts the baptized person into membership in the royal priesthood of the church, and Thomas Aquinas said that baptism, by imprinting an indelible “character” on the soul, confers…
When the Aaronic priests were ordained, the blood of the ram of "filling” was placed on the lobe of the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe (Lev. 8:22-24). Similarly, the cleansing rite for a leper included smearing the right ear lobe, thumb, and big toe with…
In my Preliminary Commentary on Daniel , which many of you have obtained, I argued in chapter 13 that the four monsters called up from the sea by the evangelistic work of the four winds (the saints) represented the deep hatred of God that evangelistic work brings to the fore…
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The Lord’s Supper models a proper meal, but for that very reason it models a properly ordered community, the right order of human society. How we eat together, with whom we eat tells us what kind of community we are. It also presents a model of work, creativity, culture, the…
In a 1972 essay on Les stars , Edgar Morin explains the difference between actors and stars by referring to ancient heroic myths. Stars are heroes of adventure, action, tragedy, and love like the heroes of myths. They are “divinisee et mythique” (39). The star's mythical, quasi-divine status applies both…
In a paper on Academia.edu, Alan Darley of the University of Nottingham examines Thomas's revision of the Pseudo-Dionysian notion of hierarchy, stressing the importance of Scripture in Thomas's revisionary efforts. Along the way, following a number of recent scholars, he highlights the central role of Scripture in the Summa .…
Stephen Greenblatt uses the anthropological theory of Alfred Gell to explain Shakespeare's universal appeal, particularly Gell's notion of the “distributed personality”: This refers to “the ability of an artist to fashion something - Gell called it an ‘index' - that carries agency, his own and that of others, into the…
In an essay in the 1978 collection, Perspectives on Luke-Acts , Donald Miesner explains the chiastic structure of Paul's missionary journey: A. Jerusalem to Antioch, Cyprus, Asia Minor, 12:25-13:14a B. Paul's initial address to Jews at Antioch, 13:14b-52 C. Paul is persecuted at Iconium, gives speech at Lystra, 14:1-28 D.…
The liturgy provides a rich and holistic model of evangelism and discipleship, holding together dimensions of Christian living that often fly apart. The liturgy begins with a call to enter the presence of God; just so, our entry into Christ is not a product of our diligent efforts but the…
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