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Writing

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

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Pastoral Ministry

Rural Church Growth

I've pastored a very rural church for well over a decade. Our town has about 1,000 people and will never grow until Jesus returns. 38 people attend our worship on Sundays. Here's a quick list of what we’ve done to grow our church, and what I’ve done to survive pastorally.…

by TheopolisAugust 10, 2017
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Art

Letter to a Young Artist

Thanks for sharing so honestly about your current crisis of creativity. I totally understand and relate to that; it’s happened many times in my musical life thus far, and I’ve begun to accept it as a normal rhythm of the creative process. I actually went through a serious dry spell…

by Joel ClarksonAugust 8, 2017
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Biblical Theology

Stones and Fruit: Divination and Procreation – (Part 3)

The Broken Stones of Israel At Sinai, the tablets of the Law of Moses were broken and restored. The Old Testament is a history of “new covenants,” including that promised in Jeremiah and fulfilled in Zechariah. Ultimately, the vertical Oath and the horizontal Sanctions met in the death of Jesus…

by Mike BullAugust 3, 2017
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Isaiah

God's Market, the Church

Woe to the sinful nation. Woe to those who enlarge their estates and build their portfolios. Woe to the drunks. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Woe to the proud who are wise in their own eyes. Woe to Congressmen who pass unjust laws and to…

by Peter LeithartAugust 1, 2017
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Romans

In the Flesh: Then and Now

The interpretation of Romans 7:7-25 is notoriously difficult. Good scholars disagree on many aspects of the passage, but the central interpretative difficulty concerns the identity of the “I.” Is Paul referring to himself? Is Paul referring to himself pre- or post-conversion? Does the “I” refer to Adam? Is the “I”…

by Bill SmithJuly 27, 2017
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How to Worship

The Minister's Uniform

You board the Metra train at Arlington Heights station one afternoon, heading to downtown Chicago for some sight-seeing. As the train departs from the station, a man in jeans, a striped t-shirt, and a Kansas City Royals baseball cap enters your train car, and begins asking to see each passenger’s…

by Jon HerrJuly 25, 2017

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Philosophy

Collapsing Foundationalisms

Wells quotes from British sociologist Anthony Giddens , who argues that postmodernism is not so much a rejection of modern foundationalism as “unmasking what has been hidden in the modern.” In classic Enlightenment foundationalism, reason is self-grounded, and faith in reason is a dogmatic faith. For consistency’s sake, Enlightenment thinkers…

December 23, 2005
Theology

David Wells on Pomo

Like many of David Wells ‘s books, I’ve find his recent Above All Earthly Pow’rs simultaneously bracing, stimulating, and frustrating. Wells examines the consequences of the confluence of two main cultural trends - the postmodern ethos and the increasingly pluralistic religious situation of the West. He makes many good points:…

December 23, 2005

Moses in 1-2 Kings

Moses is mentioned 10 times in Kings, and there are some tantalizing connections with the 10 Words that Moses delivered to Israel. For instance: 1. 1 Kings 2:3: David exhorts Solomon to guard the Lord’s commandments and walk in his ways, using a 7fold description of the law. This is…

December 23, 2005

Homo Creator

In his 1607 treatise, Idea of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects , the painter Federigo Zuccaro claimed that human being was creative being: “Because of His goodness and to show in a small replica the excellence of his divine art, [God] having created man in His image and likeness with respect…

December 22, 2005
History

Augustine and the Renaissance Self

William Bouwsma points out in his book on the “waning of the Renaissance” that the Renaissance challenged what he calls the “traditional conception of the self,” in which reason sits at the top of a hierarchy of discrete faculties, including will, passions, and body. The challenge to this conception during…

December 22, 2005
Theology

Frame on McLaren

John Frame has a typically gracious though critical review of Brian McLaren ‘s Generous Orthodoxy in the current issue of Reformation and Revival Journal. Frame appreciates a number of the concerns that animate McLaren (learning from other Christian traditions, the missional concept of the church, a hermeneutic of love, among…

December 21, 2005

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