Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Bible depicts Man’s transformation from beas t to priest in and through Jesus Christ. Two sets of people have their garments designed by God in the Torah: Adam and Eve and priests (of which the High Priest’s garments garner most attention). The first garment is beastly, while the second…
I became the pastor of Westminster Bible Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky soon after completing my Ph.D. in church history. On paper, it was the ideal church for me. Even the name, I thought smacked of my preferences: the Westminster Confession with idealistic Biblicism. I didn’t know it had been,…
Why do we believe in the resurrection of Jesus? It itself, it is utterly unbelievable, as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus also concluded (Luke 24:19-24). But why is it so unbelievable? Are there not many stories of a dead man or woman coming back to life? Stories…
In the first installment of this two-part essay, we provided a rough outline of a thick theological account of Christian hope. We concluded with mention of important critiques of such traditional views on hope, that by orienting Christians to place their ultimate hope in God and the future consummation of…
Dare we hope in the midst of “ negative world ”? The idea of the “negative world” has recently served as a helpful framework for many to come to terms with the fact that Western societies (particularly the United States) are aggressively turning against their Christian roots and moral values.…
In his prologue, Luke tells us that his gospel history is an “orderly account” (1:3). Although generally chronological, time is not the only or the main organizing principle for his history. To argue for Luke’s main theme would take up too much space, but instead I want to explore one…
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From the first moments of the creation, the Spirit of God has been working in the world to enliven and move it. As soon as there is a heaven and earth, the Spirit of God hovers over the formless emptiness of the waters, bringing light and order and moving the…
To many Americans, Christians complaining about our culture sound whiny, self-interested, and sectarian. We yell, “Fire! Cultural conflagration!” Our unbelieving neighbors sniff and wonder why they can’t smell smoke. To their ears, our critiques of culture take this form: Christians used to be in charge; we aren’t anymore; we’d like…
John's gospel differs in many ways from the three “synoptic” gospels. John begins with the majestic prologue that has no analogy in the other gospels. He never once hints that Jesus is an exorcist, he records Jesus' many visits to Jerusalem, he places the cleansing of the temple early in…
Early twentieth-century Spain is often characterized as Catholic-conservative, repressive, backward. In Cultures of the Erotic in Spain, 1898-1939 , UCLA's Maite Zubiaurre introduces “the ‘other' early twentieth-century Spain— sparkling, dynamic, uninhibited, freed from tradition, happily oblivious to sexual constraints and gender norms, so radically different from the somber, identity-searching country…
Jesus is the “living one” (Revelation 1:18). He doesn't mean that He has always been. He is the living one in the sense that He has been through the chiasm of death to life: A. and I became ( egenomen ) B. dead C. and behold B'. alive A'. I…
Jane Austen's Emma is centrally concerned with character formation and guidance. Rich, beautiful, independent, Emma Woodhouse has no one to shepherd her. Her father is too frail, and everyone else in Hughbury too intimidated. She doesn't think she needs to be shepherded, and instead spends her time meddling with other…
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