Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
John 18, 19: Latter Prophets and the Writings John 18 and 19 record the arrest, trial, torture, and death of Jesus as laid out in detail in Isaiah 53. After the Roman soldier pierces Jesus’ side, John quotes Zechariah: “They shall look at him whom they pierced” (Zech 12:10). In…
John 12.12 – John 17: Latter Prophets In the Hebrew Scriptures, Kings is followed by the Latter Prophets. John 12:15 quotes Zechariah 9:9 as having prophesied Jesus’ triumphal entry: “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” [1] N.T. Wright…
John 6.16-70: Joshua The book of Joshua documents the nation of Israel entering the Promised Land. Consider the order of events: (1) Israel is still receiving the daily miracle of manna; (2) Israel miraculously crosses the Jordan on dry foot; (3) The day after Passover , Israel eats produce of…
Since my educational and professional training have revolved around story and narrative structure, I approach John’s Gospel from a literary and narrative perspective. In doing so, I have noticed structural story patterns and followed them where they seem to lead: the Gospel of John parallels the ordering of the books…
The Mt. Sinai Hospital was neolithic on the black hill of Hollow, New Hampshire. Winter dampened the trees and the wind bit at the sparse branches, the sidewalks and stairs were perilous with soggy leaves, and the dim yellow light cast a pallor upon the milky stone building. Ambling inside…
The Revelation can only be understood in the light of Old Testament symbols and sequences. The same is true of the epistle of Jude, which serves as a blistering hors d’oeuvre to John’s fiery feast. Possibly written by the apostle Judas Thaddaeus (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13; John 14:22), the epistle…
Showing page 84 of 309
Showing page 42 of 43
What Esther Meeks calls the "defective epistemic default" of modernity infects and paralyzes biblical interpretation. In this default, knowledge is defined as information. This can only produce puzzlement about the details of the Bible. They aren't symbols; they aren't clues; they text isn't pregnant with meaning. The details are there…
Jesus turned water to wine at the wedding to Cana. It's the first sign, John tells us (John 2:11). It's an epiphany of the Word made flesh. Of what is it a sign? The wedding takes place on the "third day" (2:1), which is the seventh day in the sequence…
For our culture, real knowledge is the bits of data we accumulate by observation and experiment to store in our brains. Once harvested, knowledge is an impersonal and atemporal heap of information. In the Bible, knowing isn’t so simple. The Bible forces us to ask, When? How? and Who? God…
Adults in the Room , Yanis Varoufakis's account of his brief time as the finance minister of Greece, has all qualities of a tragedy. It is, Varoufakis writes, "the story of what happens when human beings find themselves at the mercy of cruel circumstances that have been generated by an…
A couple of excellent passages from Paul Tyson's De-Fragmenting Modernity . First, this on how modernity's "immanent frame" (Charles Taylor) not only prevents governments from addressing social problems, but actually creates conditions that cultivate the problem in the first place (2-3): "At a policy level, we are more or less…
Yahweh speaks the Ten Words to his son, Israel . The Words are ultimately pointing to the Son, who takes flesh to become true Israel. The Ten Words speak of Jesus, and Jesus is the final interpretation of their demands. "Honor your father and your mother," the Lord says, and…
Showing page 62 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
