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

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Biblical Studies

Levels of Language

A couple years ago, I read Paul Graham’s ruminations on higher- and lower-level languages in Hackers and Painters . Although he’s talking about computer languages, his insights have bearing on biblical language and hermeneutics. So bear with me while I lay out some of the basic points, and then we’ll…

by Tim NicholsAugust 7, 2018
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Ecclesiology

The Church at the Center

Toward the end of the Revelation, John sees a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. The old created order in Adam has passed away, and the new order under the lordship of Jesus has been established. Within this new creation John also sees “the holy city, the…

by Bill SmithAugust 3, 2018
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Epistemology

Seeking Integration in a Fragmented World: D.C. Schindler: Integrative Metaphysics

I have been talking with you about integration—an elusive, allusive, word, pregnant with something we long for. I have suggested that what might be rightly a natural longing has been exacerbated by our own modern Western milieu’s dominating devotion to bits and bytes, a prevailing sense of fragmentation. Fragmentation is…

by Esther Lightcap MeekJuly 31, 2018
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Art

The Stone Upon the Well

Sunday morning found me kneeling at the foot of my bed, trembling, pebbles of sweat leaping off the edge of my brow and nose, and hitting the floor in front of me, but not from piety was I procumbent; though as a minister for over a decade, I had made…

by Remy WilkinsJuly 26, 2018
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Immigration

Counseling, Immigration, and the Politics of the Gospel

In April of this year, President Trump issued a zero-tolerance border policy that separated families, specifically children from their parents who had crossed the USA/Mexico border be it illegally or as asylum seekers . In mid-June, Trump dropped this policy of splitting up families, however there are still children who…

by Michael SpalioneJuly 24, 2018
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Biblical Studies

Joseph, the Righteous Husband

During the Middle Ages, Joseph, the husband of Mary, was the butt of many jokes. Medieval theater and art often depicted him as something of a buffoon, decidedly marginal to the gospel story. In part, this was the unfortunate obverse of the exaltation of Mary; any man would suffer by…

by Peter LeithartJuly 19, 2018

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Eros and Agape

In his 2005 Christmas encyclical, Deus caritas est , Benedict XVI explains why love has to be understood as both eros and agape , as ascending and descending love. He notes early on that the Bible rarely uses the word eros , arguing that “the tendency to avoid the word…

March 13, 2018

Proverbs 31 Woman, 1

Proverbs concludes with the portrait of the “excellent wife” (31:10). The portrait reaches back to the beginning of Proverbs and the portrait of wisdom. Like Lady Wisdom, the excellent wife’s value is far above jewels (v. 10; cf. 3:15; 8:11). Like Lady Wisdom, the excellent wife offers food (31:15; cf.…

March 13, 2018

Classical Theism v. Reformed Dogmatics?

Today, many Reformed theologians are advocates of "classical theism." A few hints from Richard Muller's volume on the Trinity raise the question of whether the Reformed tradition fits neatly into what passes as classical theism today. A few brief gleanings will suffice to raise the issue. Classical theists insist above…

March 12, 2018

Trinity in the Old Testament

Kendal Soulen ( The Divine Names and the Holy Trinity , 97) summarizes Barth's treatment of the implicit Trinitarianism of the Old Testament: "the Old testament testifies to Yahweh in three distinct ways. 'Yahweh' refers 'a first time' to the unseen God who is invisibly enthroned over all things, who…

March 9, 2018

Trump, Purity, Danger

In an insightful piece on " wokeness as myth ," Alan Jacobs points to a brief blog post in which Timothy Burke describes Trump as a "desecration": "Trump is the Piss Christ of liberals and leftists. His every breath is a bb-gun shot through a cathedral window, bacon on the…

March 9, 2018

Unstable Thomism

Fergus Kerr, explicating Thomas's understanding of divine simplicity, acknowledges that "The doctrine of divine simpleness seems to make God so utterly different from anything created - so 'totally otherwise' - that any claim to have knowledge of God would be ruled out on the grounds that that which is 'simple'…

March 9, 2018

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