Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I believe hymnals should be shorter than they are. Much shorter. 100 hymns at most, let’s say. I imagine that this will be a hard one to swallow for most of my readers, so I will attempt to bolster my argument as best I can. I can’t think of any…
Joshua is never called a king in the Bible. Yet while lacking the title, Joshua possesses the trappings of biblical kingship to a degree that it seems warranted to consider him a royal figure. There are lots of reasons for thinking this. In a 1981 Journal of Biblical Literature article,…
God speaks. He is not silent. He has designed humanity for reception of such communication and also to speak on His behalf. This speaking is not simply happenstance. It is not just a curious quirk about humanity. It is intrinsic to who we are that we speak and shape the…
One evening, years ago, home from college for Christmas break, I dreamt that I was playing the piano, passionately and well, in the church sanctuary beneath the parsonage in the renovated mansion in rural New Hampshire where my father was the minister. It was something of a lucid dream because…
I’m a big worrier. Always have been. Some of my earliest memories are of being anxious to the point of getting sick, sometimes for trivial reasons. My mind moves a million miles a minute, wondering what will happen in 5 minutes, or tomorrow, or next week, or in ten years.…
“The sun had gone up on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. And the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD from heaven, and he devastated those cities and the whole valley and all those dwelling in the cities and the growth of…
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Bacevich is scathing regarding the national security apparatus: The “national security state” continues, he says, “because, by its very existence, it provides a continuing rationale for political arrangements that are a source of status, influence, and considerable wealth. Lapses in performance by this apparatus might logically raise questions about whether…
Hezekiah and Josiah celebrate large-scale Passovers. Why? What are they being delivered from? In both cases, Passover is preceded by massive destruction of idols and idolatrous shrines. First, the humiliation of the “gods of Egypt” and then the Passover. And that throws light back on the original Passover, which is…
Bacevich again: “The institution nominally referred to as the Department of Defense didn’t actually do defense; it specialized in power projection. In 2001, the Pentagon was prepared for any number of contingencies in the Balkans or Northeast Asia or the Persian Gulf. It was just not prepared to address threats…
Bacevich notes the remarkable co-dependence of Curtis LeMay and Betty Friedan: “Postwar foreign policy derived its legitimacy from a widely shared perception that power was being exercised abroad to facilitate the creation of a more perfect union at home. In this sense, General Curtis LeMay’s nuclear strike force, the Strategic…
Bacevich’s latest ( The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (American Empire Project) compellingly examines the links between American foreign policy and the “domestic dysfunction” that he finds in the United States itself. To preserve our profligate way of life, we embark on ever more ambitious foreign adventures.…
Bacevich argues that World War IV (the Cold War counts as #3) began in 1980, with Carter’s declaration that America would protect its vital interests in the Persian Gulf. While Reagan’s presidency was publicly focused on the Cold War, World War IV was already underway, with American interventions in Lebanon,…
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