Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Keeping the Law Paul states just as emphatically as James that the doers of the law will be justified (Rom. 2:13; James 2:14ff). But who are these doers of the law? Is Paul speaking hypothetically of a class of sinless people who do not really exist? Or does he have…
I have entitled this super-condensed piece to capture interest, but the fact is it sets forth what I have believed and taught long before I had ever heard of the so-called “new perspective.” For example, one can look at my paper on Ephesians 2.15 , written before I had ever…
N. T. Wright and other “New Perspective on Paul” (NPP) theologians have been criticized and condemned for speaking of justification in various “tenses.” In fact, Wright typically begins discussions of justification with future justification and works his way back to the present. But this is hardly a novelty. While the…
A doctrine of “faith alone” must be explicated and lived out in the light of the larger story of faithfulness, a story that reaches its climax in Jesus, the faithful Messiah. Indeed, the idea of “faith alone,” and even Paul’s use of the OT in service of that idea, makes…
In every city in the United States there are at least a couple of Christian radio stations which broadcast preaching around the clock, seven days a week. Many areas have a Christian television station or two which broadcast worship services several hours a day. Almost any bookstore will have a…
The queston has been discussed: which is prior, faith or repentance? It is an unnecessary question and the insistence that one is prior to the other is futile. There is no priority. The faith that is unto salvation is a penitent faith and the repentance that is unto life is…
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In her comparative study of Julian the Apostate and Gregory Nazianzus ( Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church ), Susanna Elm devotes a long chapter to Gregory's Oration 2, which is concerned with the philosopher's practice of soul care. It is not an easy task: “As difficult as it…
Chesterton is nothing if not an enthusiast, and he is nothing if not enthusiastic about Bottom the Weaver, one of the “mechanicals” of A M idsummer Night's Dream . “It is difficult to approach critically so great a figure as that of Bottom the Weaver. He is greater and more…
By the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, the US Congress decided that no more slaves were to be imported to the United States. The law passed in 1807 and went into effect in 1808. The slave trade to the Americas did not end. As Stephen Chambers notes in his…
What does it mean to say God is jealous (Heb. qanna' )? In a recent JBL piece, Nissim Amzallag points out that it is intimately linked to Yahweh's fieriness (cf. Psalm 79:5; Ezekiel 38:19) and to “furnace remelting.” If there is a hint of volcanic power in the Old Testament…
Patrick Clark's Perfection in Death is a study of Thomas's treatment of the virtue of courage, especially as expressed in martyrdom, against the background of ancient treatments of the same subject - from Homer to Socrates to Aristotle. He poses the dilemma on the first page: “If acts of virtue…
Discontent is one of life's most corrosive vices. When we wish we lived then , when we want our life to be taking place over there , we take no joy in what's here and the now. We cannot enjoy the present without receiving it, and we cannot receive it…
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