Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In the Bible, fatness is such a blessing, that it is especially hard to understand why wicked men are permitted to enjoy such a state. It requires a theodicy and faith in God. Thus: “For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek . They are…
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The allusion to the Exodus story is contained in the first words of Deuteronomy 14:1 — “ye are the sons of Yahweh your God” — as well as in 14:2 in the use of the technical term translated “treasured possession,” “His own possession,” “peculiar people,” “precious people,” and so forth.…
I have argued that Deuteronomy 14:1-21 is an independent literary unit that applies the Third Word to the lives of Israelites from the time of Moses and Joshua. In this short pericope, Moses suggests broad and deep meaning by means of literary allusion to the stories of the creation and…
In his recently republished The New Creation , the late, delightful Herbert McCabe defends the priesthood of the plebs as roundly as anyone could want. Citing Hebrews, he claims that "there is an essential difference between the Christian community and the community of the Old Law, or any other religious…
Augustine famously prayed, “Our hearts our restless until they rest in You.” True indeed. Being creatures, we inherently sense our ontological poverty—our innate condition of dependence—and are compelled to find a sense of security. And it is also true—as Augustine’s own narrative painfully illustrates—that one of the things we most…
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I n their classic 1982 article on “broken windows” policing , George Kelling and James Q. Wilson note that while many communities can self-police to some degree, actual uniformed police are essential: no citizen in a neighborhood, even an organized one, is likely to feel the sense of responsibility that…
G eorge Kelling's and James Q. Wilson's famous and influential “Broken Windows” article raises a question more relevant today than when the article appeared in the Atlantic in 1982: What is policing for? Law enforcement, or community order? The two aren't the same. They ask, “Should police activity on the…
C hris Cillizza suggests at CNN that The Simpsons can explain method behind Trump's scandal du jour madness: “There's an episode where ancient tycoon Monty Burns decides to get a physical. A set of tests is run. And the doctor informs Burns he is ‘the sickest man in the entire…
T o John Ruskin's eye, the economists of his time (John Stuart Mill, e.g.) had a reductive understanding of human nature. According to the economists, “The social affections . . . are accidental and disturbing elements in human nature; but avarice and the desire for progress are constant elements. Let…
T he industrious John Paul Heil has produced another book, this on the Gospel of Matthew . The subtitle captures his approach: “Worship in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Heil points out that the book begins with the announcement of God's presence in Jesus, who is “God With Us,” and with…
J oseph Poon devotes a monograph , based on his PhD thesis, to identifying the land and sea beasts in Revelation 13. Poon makes creative use of the tripartite structures identified by Georges Dumezil to explain how the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast form a triad. Dumezil…
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