Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Not long ago, I heard these statistics about New York City: New York City is in $100 billion in debt. 20% of all NYC residents are on food stamps, which cost $250 million a month. 5% of NYC population are on disability, costing $252 million a month. Other assistance costs…
1. All political power is ambivalent. Vertical violence of “the state” tends to limit horizontal and contested power between people and between tribes. “The State” brings new oppression, but also a measure of new peace and unity. 2. All political formations are ambiguous like this: a strong family conquers weaker…
Gnosticism by any other name would smell the same. But does the church have much of a theological sense of smell, these days, when it comes to the seductions of virtuality in our worshipping communities? Social isolation during a global pandemic makes good public health sense, but whether church should…
It is a remarkable thing, you know, this thing called priority. Just a few weeks ago, religious leaders were boldly asserting in their high-dollar online videos that it was too dangerous to return to worship and that we needed to listen to our political and health leaders. "They are the…
Somewhere in the city of Jerusalem on a rooftop just a few years after the ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost. . . ". . . and just when are you guys going to live up to your ‘Sons of Thunder’ reputation? Huh? A lot…
In my book, Solomon Says: Directives for Young Men ( Amazon , Kindle ) I mention that Solomon portrays wisdom as a woman. But I don’t ask (or answer!) why he did so. Solomon uses the figure of Lady Wisdom without apology or explanation: Wisdom cries aloud in the street,…
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INTRODUCTION The world is divided into two great families. On the one hand, there are those who are “called children of God” (3:1), while on the other hand are the “children of the devil” (3:10). The main distinguishing mark is conduct: Children of the devil practice sin, while children of…
The good folks at First Things have posted an article of mine on their web site. You can see it at http://www.firstthings.com.
1 John 2:20: You have an anointing from the Holy One. As I said in the sermon, John uses the word “anointing” to refer to the Spirit. We are led into truth, and enabled to persevere in the truth, because the Spirit has been poured out. But John uses this…
“You have no need for anyone to teach you,” John writes, since “His anointing teaches you about all things.” Whatever this means, it certainly doesn’t mean that Christians don’t need any teachers. That would make John’s statement contradictory, since he’s teaching his readers they don’t need teachers. Besides, the New…
It is almost universally believed among evangelicals that Jesus is coming soon. This conviction is obvious among those who think that Jacques Chirac or Vladimir Putin might be the Antichrist. But even evangelicals saner eschatologies cling to the belief that Jesus could be returning any day. In his excellent commentary…
Berman offers this very sharp summary of Foucault’s work, whom he says is “about the only writer of the past decade who has had anything substantial to say about modernity” (Berman is writing in 1982). Then: “what he has to say is an endless, excruciating series of variations on the…
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