Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The doctrine of justification is precious among Protestants. And it should be. The fact that God has declared our sins forgiven and that we have a righteous standing in the sight of God united to Christ is comforting and brings great joy. Unfortunately, the biblical teaching on justification is, many…
The Old Testament priests were given a number of seemingly disparate duties. As everyone knows, the priests led the sacrificial worship of Israel; only the priests could sprinkle blood on the altar or within the tabernacle, and only they could approach the altar to turn sacrificial animals into smoke. But…
M issional ecclesiology is all the rage these days, but for many being “missional” means downplaying or even eliminating concern for the “internal” life of the church, particularly its liturgical life. Missional and liturgical, mission and communio , are locked in zero-sum combat. That cannot be right. The liturgy is…
An old friend of mine, now passed into Heaven, started to say this in relationship to his sometimes troubled family, in the last quarter of his life, "I just had to take responsibility for the whole thing..." That was the seed for a new reading of the Gospel for me,…
She departed the port, dressed in her best ceremonial regalia, with tassels and flags fluttering from her mast and rigging. She stood tall, robed in mist, crowned in white, and backlit by the rising sun. There she sat, shimmering and spotless; with a perfect ragtop, and a full tank of…
John the Baptist is presented in the gospels as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise that God would send His messenger to prepare the way for the coming of the glory of the Lord (Is. 40), and the promise to send Elijah before Him to turn the people to…
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I published this review in 2017 when my blog was housed at Patheos. It's been buried on the Theopolis site, and it seemed a good time to exhume it. I made some additions and edits. R ichard Rothstein's Color of Law demonstrates that “until the last quarter of the twentieth…
I wrote the following essay in 2013, just after the Supreme Court's decision in Windsor. With the GOP capitulating (as I predicted ) on gay marriage, it's worth running again . Sudden as it seems to some, the Supreme Court’s endorsement of gay marriage in Windsor was a long time…
According to a common narrative, the Frankfurt School of critical theory, which flourished in the first half of the 20 th century, is the source of today’s cultural Marxism. Having failed to win over the proletariat, the story goes, the revisionary Marxists of Frankfurt – Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter…
The first twelve chapters of Isaiah form a chiasm: A. Lord’s opposition to Judah, 1:1-31 B. High things cut; Jerusalem restored, 2:1-4:6 C. Parable of Vineyard and woes, 5:1-30 D. Isaiah and Ahaz, 6:1-9:7 C’. “Hand stretched out”; woe, 9:8-10:4 B’. Woe to Assyrian axe, 10:5-32 A’. Restoration of Judah,…
1. “Shepherds” are royal , not priestly figures (Psalm 80:1). Moses, Joshua, and David are called shepherds, but not Aaron (Exodus 32:34 with Psalm 23:3; Numbers 27:17; Psalm 78:71-72; cf. Psalm 77:20). The Good Shepherd’s rod is iron (Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15; cf. Psalm 2:7-9). 2. “Pastor” = “shepherd.” In…
Perry Marshall’s Evolution 2.0 is a devastating critique of Evolution 1.0, the neo-Darwinian theory Marshall summarizes in the equation, “Random mutation + natural selection + time = Evolution.” His critique focuses primarily on the “random mutation” factor. Scientists have experimented on fruit flies for decades. By causing mutations through radiation,…
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