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

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Hermeneutics

Beginning and New Beginning in Luke

Although the events are, of course, not perfectly parallel, Luke in his gospel intends us to connect Jesus’ birth from the womb and His re-birth from the tomb. Luke 1:27 introduces us to Joseph and in verse 30 we learn that his betrothed wife was named Mary. An angel appeared…

by James B. JordanDecember 28, 1996
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Matthew

A Note on Matthew

The apostle Matthew is also known as Levi son of Alphaeus. While not much is said about this man, the few things that are told us are significant. Matthew in Greek is Matthaios and comes from the Hebrew name Mattithiah, or Mattith-Yah, "Gift of Yah(weh)." Matthew’s other name is Levi,…

by James B. JordanDecember 28, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

Twelve Fundamental Avenues of Revelation (Part 1)

Theologians often speak of "special" and "general" revelation, or of "natural" and "supernatural" revelation, or of "word" and "deed" revelation. While there are many worthwhile insights in these discussions, particularly in the discussions in Cornelius Van Til’s Introduction to Systematic Theology , I have not found any that satisfied my…

by James B. JordanDecember 28, 1996
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Ezekiel

Countdown to Exile IV: Ezekiel and the Structure of History

Ezekiel’s 430 Years In Ezekiel 4, the prophet is told to begin his ministry by setting up a model of Jerusalem and lying on his side and prophesying against it. He is to do this for 430 days, a day for a year. 390 days are against "Israel," and 40…

by James B. JordanDecember 28, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

The Oddness of the Feast of Booths

The Feast of Ingathering in the seventh month of the Sinaitic calendar is also called the Feast of Sukkoth, of Booths, also called Feast of Tabernacles. I have usually called it by that last phrase, and it is the most common today; but there is a problem: A tabernacle is…

by James B. JordanDecember 28, 1996
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Ezekiel

Countdown to Exile III: Warnings Against False Hopes

The End of Jehoiakim’s Reign We have seen that Jehoiakim rejected Jeremiah’s prophetic warnings at the beginning of his reign. Let us now make a year-by-year survey of his reign down to its end. In the spring of 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish. In the summer, he…

by James B. JordanNovember 28, 1996

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Tragedy of Judgment

What is tragedy? Some might think that it’s an easy question to answer. Crack open the nearest copy of Aristotle’s Poetics , and there you have it. It’s not so easy. What Chaucer meant by tragedy is not what Aristotle met, and in the modern age Hegel proposed a different…

February 27, 2018

Who Do You Say I Am? Part 1

Jesus bursts onto the scene in Mark as a strong man, conquering enemy after enemy. After His baptism, the Spirit drives Him into the wilderness, where He overcomes the devil and survives wild beasts. He enters the synagogue at Capernaum to teach on a Sabbath, and is met by a…

February 27, 2018

Mission of the Crucified

The following excerpt is taken from the first volume of my Matthew commentary , recently published by Athanasius Press . Jesus summoned the Twelve to Him and gave them authority and power (Matthew 10). He sent them out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He told them…

February 26, 2018

Science and Anti-Catholicism

John Hedley Brooke ( Science and Religion , 44-45) summarizes the argument of JW Draper's 1875 History of the Conflict between Religion and Science : "The history of science, he wrote, is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive force of the human intellect on one…

February 23, 2018
Medicine

Sinsick

In an essay in Sin, Death, and the Devil , Stanley Hauerwas describes our “sinsick” condition, drawing from Thomas for help. Thomas links sin and sickness in a way that, Hauerwas says, strikes moderns as “bizarre”: “‘Sickness’ for us . . . is pointless. Being ‘sick’ is a condition that…

February 23, 2018

Sevens Everywhere

Everyone knows that Genesis 1 claims that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. William Brown ( Seven Pillars of Creation ) shows that the sevens are everywhere in the creation account: "The account of Genesis 1 is carefully structured around seven days within which…

February 23, 2018

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