Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The first commandment given in the Levitical sacrificial legislation has to do with the animals appropriate to sacrifice: "When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of cattle ( behemah ), from the herd or the flock" (Lev. 1:2). Cattle alone were…
This post was originally posted in 2004 The ultimate condemnation of a position in Reformed circles is to show that it “leads back to Rome.” Indeed, one gets the feeling that Rome is a worse destination for a Presbyterian than even hell itself. The accusation of Rome stings deeply, of…
There are countless scholars who have helped me in my reading of various passages of Scripture. I have gleaned insights and keys from them that have unlocked texts that once perplexed me. However, no scholar has done so much to teach me how to read the Scripture more generally than…
The Tortoise and the Hare is perhaps the most well-known of the Greek fables. Its story has been present in every era of human history. From the Indigenous retellings with hummingbirds and cranes to the Biblical account of David and Goliath, the basic furniture of an unlikely hero tale is…
Sexual sins are perhaps the most shame-inducing sins experienced by Christians and non-Christians alike. All sins can bring shame, but sexual sins are deeply personal and affect us in profound ways. For example, adultery leaves its victim devastated by betrayal; porn addiction leaves men feeling gross, pathetic, and lazy; losing…
If the mark of a good book is how many times a person can re-read it with pleasure, Richard Adams’ novel Watership Down is one of the best books of the 20 th century. I’ve taught this book in my middle school literature class for the past three years, and…
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1 Chronicles 2 begins with a list of the sons of Israel, organized not in birth order but by mother. It is chiastically arranged to place Rachel's sons at the center: A. 6 sons of Leah B. 1 son of Bihah, Rachel's maid (Dan) C. 2 sons of Rachel (Joseph,…
Camille Paglia nails the reason for the unlikely rise of Bernie-mania. It's a strike against the “soulless juggernaut”: “A vote for Bernie Sanders is a vote against the machine, the obscenely money-mad and soulless juggernaut that the Democratic Party has become. Perhaps there was a time, during the Hubert Humphrey…
In Heroes and Hero-Worship , Thomas Carlyle argues that hero-worship is the source of all religion, including Christianity, the form of all loyalty and faith, the foundation of human society. All ranks, he says, “are what we may call a Hero archy (Government of Heroes)—or a Hierarchy, for it is…
In his typological reading of the exodus (1 Corinthians 10), Paul warns the Corinthians not to commit the sins that their fathers committed in the wilderness, specifically idolatry and sexual immorality. By these, and by their grumbling, the Israelites tested the Lord and provoked His anger. These are the same…
Tyranny is a constant in human history, argues Waller Newell in his forthcoming Tyrants . But the character of tyranny is not constant. Newell analyzes three forms of tyranny. The first is the “garden-variety” tyrant, most common in the ancient world: “These are basically men who dispose of an entire…
During February and March of 1974, science fiction writer Philip K. Dick experienced a series of mystical revelations. The source was an entity known as “Zebra,” which revealed that time had stopped back in the mid first-century and that all time since had been an illusion. Guided by Zebra, Dick…
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