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

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Modernity

Protestantism and the Postmodern self

Postmodernism has, we are told, “decentered” the modern self, that unified, sovereign, isolated, godlike “thinking thing” discovered by Rene Descartes. The postmodern self is not single but multiple; not sovereign but controlled by external forces; not isolated but “embedded” in the world and in relation; not godlike, but human, all…

by Peter LeithartMay 6, 2013
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Matthew

Law and History: How to Read the Law of Moses (Part 8)

This is the eighth in a series of studies on Deuteronomy 22:30-23:8. And Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 1, 2013
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Augustine

A Cusan Modernity?

The fifteenth-century German Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa led a busy and wide-ranging life. Educated in liberal arts and law at Heidelberg and Padua, Nicholas was a leading figure in the Conciliarist movement, and later served as a papal legate to both Constantinople and throughout Germany. As Bishop of Brixen, he…

by Peter LeithartApril 29, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Law and History: How to Read the Law of Moses (Part 7)

This is the seventh in a series of studies on Deuteronomy 22:30-23:8. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a sojourner in his land. The children of the third generation that are born unto them shall enter…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 25, 2013
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Romans

What Advantage the Jew?

A sermon on Romans 3:1-8. 1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. A lot of people speculate here about what kind of advantage Paul is talking…

by Mark HorneApril 22, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Law and History: How to Read the Law of Moses (Part 6)

This is the sixth in a series of studies on Deuteronomy 22:30-23:8. An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of Yahweh forever: because they met you not with bread and…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 17, 2013

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Singulars and Plurals

Psalm 1 pronounces a blessing on the “ man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked” (v. 1). For some modern translators, it's a sexist text: Aren't women blessed when they refuse the counsel of the wicked? “Man” is not an absolutely necessary translation. The Hebrew ‘ish…

September 2, 2015

How To Create Church Fights

Denominational Christianity is a safety-valve. When things get too hot in a congregation, one or the other party leaves and starts its own church. Pressure reduces. Over time, the divided parties might even make up after a fashion. Denominational Christianity seems a peace treaty. Lesslie Newbigin, a leader in the…

September 1, 2015

Shoes and Holy Ground

In a recent Theopolis lecture, James Jordan pointed to the ritual of Ruth 4 to explain the significance of removing shoes on holy ground. There, a man hands over a shoe as a sign of submission and ceding authority to another. To remove shoes is to acknowledge that God is…

September 1, 2015

Why Evangelical Films Fail

I went to a screening of Woodlawn last Saturday. Directed by Birmingham brothers Jon and Andrew Erwin, the film tells the true story of revival among the players on the football team at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham during a racially tense period of the 1970s. The film focuses on…

September 1, 2015

The Scope of Revelation

In the first volume of his Reformed Dogmatics (435-6), Herman Bavinck notes that the final end of everything is “God Himself,” since “he can never come to an end in creation but can only rest in himself.” Revelation's purpose is consistent with this overall aim. Thus “the object of revelation…

August 31, 2015

Crisis of Manhood

One of the many illuminating observations in Philipp Blom's Fracture is his observation that the early 20th century witnessed a massive crisis of manhood. He sees signs of it already in pre-World War I Europe (covered in Blom's The Vertigo Years ) as the rise of machinery and factory labor…

August 31, 2015

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