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Writing

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

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Lent

Embrace Pessimism

Optimism is “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.” 1 On the other hand, pessimism is “an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome.” We can see that optimism and…

by Bogumil JarmulakFebruary 21, 2024
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Biblical Theology

2 Trees of Eden & What They Mean: Knowledge of Good & Evil vs. Life

If we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of…

by Mark BriansFebruary 13, 2024
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Death

Training to Die

“I chant slips and irreversible disasters, wiltings, failures, scars, the little disappointments and the large, blue streaks down a world that wishes it was only suncolors.” Paul J. Pastor from Kintsugi Song I recently lost something very valuable. Something I’d had for years and used every day. But, it wasn’t…

by Mandi GerthFebruary 7, 2024
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Jonah

Jonah’s Backward Exodus

In his eponymous book, Jonah follows an exodus pattern. He travels through the waves and east of the city into the wilderness. On a first reading, it looks like another use of this common literary shape in the Old Testament: salvation through the waters of death and the wilderness of…

by Tim SuffieldJanuary 30, 2024
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Revelation

Where is the Tree of Knowledge in New Jerusalem?

“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” The unknowing master of ceremonies didn’t know how right he was. We see this play out in John’s apocalypse. The end is like the beginning,…

by David AppoldJanuary 23, 2024
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Luke

The Test of Adultery

Read in isolation, The Test of Adultery (Num 5:11-31) presents the reader with a seemingly bizarre ritual, conjuring up ideas bordering on the Salem Witch Trials. Beyond this, pressing questions linger—such as, “Why is the woman in particular singled out, while no test is provided for the husband of a…

by Ben LoveladyJanuary 17, 2024

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Eucharistic meditation

1 John 1:6-7: If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus…

September 18, 2006
Theology

Irrationality of Islam

Pope Benedict’s remarks on Islam have sparked violent protests, and many have noted the irony: Muslims violently protests the Pope’s claim that they practice a violent religion. But the Pope’s main point in the address was about the detachment of God’s word from human reason; he traced efforts to deHellenize…

September 17, 2006

Exhortation

I’m wearing a green stole around my neck, and there’s a green tablecloth on the table. Why is that? For starters, these are part of the glorification of worship. Every place of worship in Scripture – the tabernacle, the temple, the heavenly court in Revelation – is adorned, and that’s…

September 17, 2006
History

World Cities

Featherstone: “One important site where the various flows of people, goods, technology, information and images cross and intermingle is the world city. World cities are the sites in which we find the juxtaposition of the rich and the poor, the new middle-class professionals and the homeless, and a variety of…

September 14, 2006
Philosophy

On the other hand….

In certain respects, Continental philosophy has a strong “Protestant” thrust: As Critchley describes it, the philosophical vocation is to produce crisis in a world where the crisis is that there is no recognition of crisis. Through critique of everyday praxis, the philosopher aims to create crisis that will lead to…

September 14, 2006
Philosophy

On the other hand….

In certain respects, Continental philosophy has a strong “Protestant” thrust: As Critchley describes it, the philosophical vocation is to produce crisis in a world where the crisis is that there is no recognition of crisis. Through critique of everyday praxis, the philosopher aims to create crisis that will lead to…

September 14, 2006

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