Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me. In 2005, God blessed our family with our third child, our second daughter, whom we named Bethany. As soon as Bethany was born, we knew there was something different about her. Unlike her two older siblings, who were born…
Christian, what is it that we believe? While Creeds like the Nicene and Apostle’s have been fundamental pieces of Christian liturgy and life, the American Church is highly unattached to these classic statements. From this creedal phobia has arisen the popular “No Creed, but Christ” slogan. Such slogan, of course,…
Revisiting William Cavanaugh’s devastating 2009 The Myth of Religious Violence . The myth of Cavanaugh’s title is a well-known one. According to the myth, religion is a distinct sphere of human life and practice from the rest of human social life, a universal impulse in human beings, and is dogmatic,…
19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20 And when he had so…
An octave is a repetition, a repetition with a difference. It’s not the first note played again , but the first note played at a higher pitch. Octaves have always marked new beginnings. Hebrew boys were circumcised on the eighth day. Firstborn sheep were dedicated to Yahweh on the eighth…
We say Jesus’ resurrection is good news. It wasn’t good news for the disciples on the first Easter. More like perplexing, bewildering news. For others, it wasn’t perplexing, and it certainly wasn’t good. It was plain old bad news. Early in Luke’s gospel, Herod is terrified that Jesus might be…
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The Hebrew in Deuteronomy 4:16-18 appears repetitive. After reminding Israel that they saw no form or likeness ( temunah ) on Sinai, Moses warns them not to “act corruptly” by making a graven image ( pesel ) of any likeness ( temunah ). A pesel of a temunah is presumably…
Homosexuality is one of the key public issues confronting today'sAmerican pastors. Nearly every pastor will counsel someone battling homosexual desires or actively engaged in a homosexual lifestyle. Compassionate, firm counsel is the least of the challenges. As the gay marriage movement makes headway, there has been subtle but relentless pressure…
During Advent, my pastor, Rich Lusk, preached on Zephaniah. A couple of his sermons are relevant to current debates concerning Christian nationalism ( here and here ). Rich’s text was Zephaniah 3, and he focused attention on verse 9: “For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that…
Ecclesiocentrism is both a theoretical framework and a practical agenda for a Christian politics after liberalism. THEORY 1. The gospel is an inherently political message, announcing the Lordship and Kingship of Jesus. 2. Christian political theory is ecclesiology. Or, more moderately, no political theory can be Christian without a central…
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died in his residence at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City on December 31, 2022, aged 95. He was Pope from 2005 until his surprise resignation in 2013. Earlier in life, Joseph Ratzinger was an academic theologian and Archbishop of Munich, and immediately prior to…
Yahweh declares Adam alone is “not good” (Genesis 2:18). His solution is a fresh act of making. He deliberated over the creation of man with a “Let us” (1:26). He resorts again to the first person as He declares His intention to create woman: “I will make” (2:18). “Let us”…
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