Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
This was a newspaper column that I wrote for the Minco Millennium back in January of 2000 when I had first moved to Minco, Oklahoma to pastor First Reformed Presbyterian Church. I wasn’t able to catch the recent performance of the musical, Godspell , in Oklahoma City. However, my dad…
Awhile back, there was a big debate among Evangelicals as to whether one had to trust Jesus “as Lord” as well as “as savior. Some claimed that one could be saved by Jesus through a faith that did not involve submission to him as Lord. Others claimed that one must…
I originally wrote this a few weeks ago in April 2002 as a column in the local newspaper, The Minco Millennium under the title “Faith & Follow-Through.” Several passages in the book of Hebrews are difficult for Protestants to swallow. The author affirms the once-and-for-all work of Christ and yet…
N. T. Wright’s commentary on Romans is destined to be a classic. The introduction alone is worth the hefty price of the book — but the exegesis itself is, well, priceless. I will not attempt a full review — these are just miscellaneous thoughts and random reflections — but I…
At an inn in the town of Lystra three men sat around a corner table. All three were well-known disciples of Joshua Messiah, members of what the town called a new cult, the Way. The short gray-haired man with the enormous beard was clearly restless. “This is taking too long,”…
Recently there has been some surprising debate in some circles over where Paul summarizes his Gospel. I say “surprising” because many Evangelical Bible scholars have held, for quite some time, that Paul’s Gospel is encapsulated in Romans chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Here is the passage in context: Paul,…
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1) There are repeated verbal links between the opening of 1 Kings 17 and the opening of chapter 18. The word of Yahweh comes to Elijah, telling him to ?go?E(17:2; 18:1). In both chapters, the word ?cut off?Eis used (the brook ?Cherith?E Jezebel?s ?cutting off?Eof prophets; the ?cutting off?Eof cattle).…
INTRODUCTION Elijah is a new Moses, and like Moses he confronts the ?Pharaoh?EAhab and his hundreds of ?magicians.?EBy his victory in this context, Yahweh not only humiliates the gods of the Canaanites, and the Israelites who act like Canaanites. He also calls and leads Israel to repentance (vv. 39-40). This…
David Hart describes the work of theology, as opposed to the work of metaphysics, as follows: “Theology is not an art that abstracts from history toward eternity, from facts toward principles, but one that - under the pressure of the history it is called upon to interpret - finds the…
Umberto Eco, ed. History of Beauty . Translated by Alastair McEwen. New York: Rizzoli, 2004. 438pp. Bursting with splashy reproductions of art work from the ancient Greeks to the present, Eco’s History of Beauty could pass for a survey of Western art. Eco’s purpose, however, is broader; he intends a…
From the anonymous 8th-century Liber Monstrorum , we learn about the following: Astomori: “The accounts of the Greeks say that there are also men devoid of a mouth, unlike all the others, and thus they allegedly cannot eat anything: according to the sources, moreover, they stay alive only by breathing…
Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety . New York: Pantheon, 2004. 306pp. “Every adult life,” Alain de Botton argues, “could be said to be defined by two great love stories.” The first is the romantic quest for sexual love and companionship, and it is the subject of innumerable poems, stories, and…
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