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Writing

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

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Hermeneutics

Hermeneutical Polytheism

A couple of decades ago, when I was a young Reconstructionist (instead of a middle-aged post-Reconstructionist), I coined the phrase "political polytheism" to describe how modern evangelical Christians approach matters of social law and politics. Christians want the Bible for Church and family life, but turn to other gods for…

by James B. JordanJanuary 28, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

Concerning Contracts and Covenants

Gary North has from time to time taken note of some of the differences between contracts and covenants. For him, one of the most important is the oath-character of a covenant. Naturally, the English terms "contract" and "covenant" can be used with varying nuances by different writers, and their zone…

by James B. JordanJanuary 5, 1996
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Biblical Studies

Rethinking the Order of the Old Testament

The Book of Chronicles is the last book in the Hebrew Canon of the Old Testament. The word "canon" means "authoritative list" when used in connection with the Bible. What we call the Hebrew Canon consists of 24 books arranged in three major divisions: the Law, the Prophets, and the…

by James B. JordanDecember 28, 1995
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Biblical Studies

At The Center of the Book of Kings

by: Peter Leithart and James Jordan The Book of Kings is structured chiastically, or concentrically. To see this clearly, we start in the middle and work our way outward. 2 Kings 3–7 record the central events of the ministry of Elisha. Elisha makes his first appearance in 1 Kings 19:19-21,…

by Peter LeithartNovember 5, 1995
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Judges

Dynastic Aspirations in the Book of Judges

(The following is a supplement to my book, God’s War Against Humanism , a study of the book of Judges, available from Biblical Horizons for $20.00 – a photocopy of the original book, which is now out of print). The turning point in the book of Judges is 8:22-28. Here…

by James B. JordanNovember 5, 1995
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Biblical Horizons

Doing the Lord’s Supper

From time to time I am asked how I think the Lord’s Supper should be done. This essay is my response to that question. To start with, we should agree that the Lord’s Supper is the only ritual we are obligated to do in the New Covenant on a routine…

by James B. JordanNovember 5, 1995

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Theology

Feuerbach’s inversion

What theologians was Feuerbach reading? If God is to be transcendent, he said, “the human, considered as such, is depreciated . . . . To enrich God, man must become poor; that God may be all in all, man must be nothing.” He certainly wasn’t reading Paul, or if he…

October 9, 2006
Philosophy

Cognitive Metaphor

Steven Pinker (TNR, October 9) has a field day demolishing George Lakoff’s recent Whose Freedom? Lakoff attacks conservatives’ use of freedom to justify their political agenda and argues that liberals can regain political power by reframing political debate using new metaphors. Along the way, Pinker also scores some points against…

October 9, 2006
Theology

Papal evangelism

After noting the political import of the Pope’s recent speech (eg, its implicit warning against including Turks in the European Union - in which context the citation of Manuel II Paleologus, who spent his life fighting Turks, was particularly apt), David Nirenberg (TNR, October 9) concludes that Benedict XIV’s speech…

October 9, 2006
Philosophy

Nothing outside the text?

John Frame distinguishes between facts as states of affairs and facts as statements concerning those states of affairs: “It would not be true to say that facts in the sense of states of affairs are identical with our interpretations of them, but facts in the sense of statements of fact…

October 9, 2006

Sermon Outline

With lots of help from Gary Burge’s NIV Application Commentary . . . . INTRODUCTION The world around us seems to solid and permanent. We can hardly imagine what life would be like without well-stocked grocery shelves, autumn elections, air travel, electricity, running water, and all the amenities of modern…

October 9, 2006

Eucharistic meditation

1 John 2:5: Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. As we saw in the…

October 8, 2006

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