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

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Leviticus

Cathedral Offerings

Interwoven within Leviticus’ opening offerings is a redemptive storyline meant to be rehearsed. Each offering makes a particular contribution to the retelling of the Exodus deliverance. Like learning a dance, Israel’s opening rituals recount their steps from Egypt to Sinai in a fashion meant to perpetually imprint its experience on…

by Ben LoveladyMay 15, 2025
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Mark

Mark 7 in Color

In Capernaum, the leaders of Israel questioned Jesus in their hearts. Beside the sea, they questioned his disciples about their rabbi’s practices. They challenged Jesus in the grain fields, sought to trap him in the synagogue, tried to seize him, thinking he was mad, and accused him of being possessed.…

by George EdemaMay 13, 2025
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Psalm-singing

Rascals in a Cave

An essay on ministry taken from recent notes for a ‘solemn charge’ I gave our pastoral team (together with their spouses) at All Saints Honolulu, a church-plant that enters its fifth year. I. After receiving the sword of Goliath from Ahimelech at Nob, and after fleeing first to and then…

by Mark BriansMay 6, 2025
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Biblical Theology

A Theology of Tombs: Burial and the Promises of God

When thinking about the book of Genesis, we often think of beginnings, the beginning of the world, humanity, the elect people of God. The word “genesis” itself means beginning. Genesis is also known as the book of promises. Genesis contains three of the major Old Testament covenants: Adamic, Noahic and…

by Matthew DarbyApril 30, 2025
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Luke

Mountain, Tomb, Table: Moses and Elijah as the First Witnesses at the Empty Tomb

A Theological and Typological Commentary on Luke 24:4 In Luke 24:4, we are told that as the women arrived at the tomb on Easter morning, they encountered “two men in dazzling apparel” standing beside them. This description, on its own, may not immediately provoke questions. The traditional interpretation identifies these…

by Bruce GrimmetApril 29, 2025
Acts

Easter Meditation (Part 2)

For Part 1, click HERE . The four Gospel accounts give us their strange and wonderful historical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. The rest of the New Testament, either explicitly or by suggestion, refers to the resurrection in every book except 3 John. Unlike the Gospel accounts, however, most…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 22, 2025

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Culture

Culture - Problem or Solution?

Terry Eagleton ( Culture and the Death of God ) observes that culture was once considered the solution to the twentieth century's loss of religion. The ambiguity of “culture” - its “aesthetic” elite meaning and its popular “anthropological” meaning - was exploited to serve political ends. TS Eliot understood that…

March 25, 2016

Dostoevsky's Archetypes

Lonny Harrison's forthcoming Archetypes from Underground suggests that Jung, as well as literary treatments of archetypes (Frye), are useful for understanding Dostoevsky's characters, plots, themes, and poetics. Harrison makes a good case for the comparison of Dostoevsky and Jung, noting that they both draw on German Romanticism - especially Schelling…

March 24, 2016

Lord and Servant

Like a high priest preparing to cleanse the footstool of Yahweh, Jesus put aside His garments and girded Himself to wash His disciples’ feet (John 13:1-11). The Lord became servant. It was not the first time. He had been the Lordly servant from the beginning, and He would be servant…

March 24, 2016

Ascension and Absence

Robert Farneti ( Mimetic Politics ) observes that Rene Girard refused to describe his project as theology. Farneti thinks Girard was right: He wasn't writing theology but “a theory of man.” He writes, “Girard's mimetic theory culminates in a radical rejection of theology, in particular of its claims to articulate…

March 24, 2016

Cliched Truth

In one section of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest , which turned 20 this year, we follow Don Gately, erstwhile expert in breaking and entering (B&E) and addict, to a meeting of a Boston chapter of AA. Wallace gives us several harrowing glimpses into addiction, one of which comes from…

March 23, 2016

Levitical Pastoral Care

Maps and Meanings by Nancy Wiener and Jo Hirschmann aims to apply insights drawn from the book of Leviticus to contemporary pastoral care. The authors lay out the Levitical mapping of reality, centered on the sanctuary, and then focus on the Levitical category of michutz lamachaneh , “outside the camp,”…

March 23, 2016

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