Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Theophanic revelation is historically progressive, or eschatological, in character. First of all, in Genesis 1:2, the Spirit appeared inside the creation, sent by the Father. After the creation of man, the Spirit worked and works with humanity to bring us to maturity, from Daughter to Bride to fruitful Mother. He…
On the eighth day of the rite of "filling the hand," Aaron began his service at the altar. His first offering was a "calf" (Heb. `egel ), which served as a purification offering for himself and (apparently) his household (Leviticus 9:2, 8). This is striking for a couple of reasons.…
One of the distinctive items of the high priest’s clothing was the "golden plate" inscribed with the words "Holy to Yahweh" (Exodus 28:36-38). The word translated as "plate" is tsits , which literally means "flower." The verbal and noun forms are both used in Numbers 17:8, which describes Aaron’s rod…
The square, rectangle, and cross shapes appear all over the sanctuaries God reveals in the Bible: Tabernacle, Solomon’s Temple, Ezekiel’s Temple, New Jerusalem. One thing that can be said right away about these designs, and the occasional perfect circle (the lavers), is that they do not occur in nature. They…
"For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40). Some reflections on Jonah’s Big Fish have led to the following essay. Let me…
Citing Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20, James Jordan has written that "the name of God in use among the nations was God Most High’" (Hebrew, `el `elyon ; in Through New Eyes , p. 176). In addition to Melchizedek, one could cite the example of Balaam, who invokes the Lord both…
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Gabrielle Kuby argues in her wide-ranging book on The Global Sexual Revolution that the goal of the sexual revolution is to introduce a new anthropology that will serve as the basis of family law, social norms, and human self-identity: “Modern and post-modern man have emancipated themselves – from God, from…
“You are fairer than the sons of men,” says the court poet to the king in Psalm 45:2, using a word that is more typically used to describe feminine beauty. But the king's beauty is masculine. He is fair because of the grace that pours through his lips - the…
University of Erlangen theologian Paul Althaus reacted to the German election of 1933 with enthusiasm: “Our Protestant churches have greeted the turning point of 1933 as a gift and miracle of God” (all quotations from Robert Erickson, Complicity in the Holocaust ). Althaus wasn't alone. A Protestant newspaper warned against…
Matthew Bates ( Birth of the Trinity ) points to Hebrews 1:8-9's quotation of Psalm 45 as an example of “prosopological” interpretation of the Old Testament. The Logos or Spirit speaks in the persona ( prosopon ) of the poet of the Psalm, and the interaction described in the Psalm…
Morris Davis's The Methodist Unification is a study of the reunion of the Methodist church following the Civil War. Davis pays specific attention to the racial politics of the reunion, which formed a black-only national conference, segregated from the white churches. Davis interprets this move against the broad background of…
Paul says, Christ is our life. Not, Christ gives us life, or Christ defends our life, or Christ supports our life. No: Christ is our life. I died, Paul tells the Galatians, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. We died with Christ, and Christ lives in…
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