Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I've pastored a very rural church for well over a decade. Our town has about 1,000 people and will never grow until Jesus returns. 38 people attend our worship on Sundays. Here's a quick list of what we’ve done to grow our church, and what I’ve done to survive pastorally.…
Thanks for sharing so honestly about your current crisis of creativity. I totally understand and relate to that; it’s happened many times in my musical life thus far, and I’ve begun to accept it as a normal rhythm of the creative process. I actually went through a serious dry spell…
The Broken Stones of Israel At Sinai, the tablets of the Law of Moses were broken and restored. The Old Testament is a history of “new covenants,” including that promised in Jeremiah and fulfilled in Zechariah. Ultimately, the vertical Oath and the horizontal Sanctions met in the death of Jesus…
Woe to the sinful nation. Woe to those who enlarge their estates and build their portfolios. Woe to the drunks. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Woe to the proud who are wise in their own eyes. Woe to Congressmen who pass unjust laws and to…
The interpretation of Romans 7:7-25 is notoriously difficult. Good scholars disagree on many aspects of the passage, but the central interpretative difficulty concerns the identity of the “I.” Is Paul referring to himself? Is Paul referring to himself pre- or post-conversion? Does the “I” refer to Adam? Is the “I”…
You board the Metra train at Arlington Heights station one afternoon, heading to downtown Chicago for some sight-seeing. As the train departs from the station, a man in jeans, a striped t-shirt, and a Kansas City Royals baseball cap enters your train car, and begins asking to see each passenger’s…
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Random and inconclusive notes on 2 Kings 4:8ff. 1) The woman at Shunem has a husband, in contrast to the woman at the beginning of the story who was a widow. Both, though, need Elisha as a ?father?Ewho will give birth to/save their children. 2) The Shunammite speaks of Elisha…
The story of the widow and her sons moves from death to life: the dead man of verse 1 is exchanged for the ?live on the remainder?Ein verse 7. The story is also a Passover: Children are saved from slavery, and they are saved by being locked into a house…
Since I posted a lengthy summary of David Hart’s sharp critique of Robert Jenson, it’s only fair to note that Jenson disputes Hart’s account of his theology. In a review in Pro Ecclesia, Jenson claims that Hart “seriously misrepresents me,” though he adds that they have “anyway come to a…
Aquinas de malo, Question 3, article 1: Does God cause sin? One can be a ?cause of sin?Ein two ways, first by sinning and second by causing another to sin. God does not cause sin in either sense. Regarding the first: Thomas describes sin as a failure to attain an…
My favorite line from Eudora Welty’s short story, “Why I live at the P.O.”: “Papa-Daddy’s Mama’s papa and sulks.”
The London Times Online reported on May 29 on a new proposal regarding gay clergy in the Church of England: “Homosexual priests in the Church of England will be allowed to ‘marry’ their boyfriends under a proposal drawn up by senior bishops, led by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.…
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