Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Summary In what follows, I will consider the “year-stamps” employed in Scripture, i.e., statements of the form, “Such-and-such an event took place in the Xth year of Y.” In the process, I will suggest some ways in which the Biblical narrative might relate to events in the extra-Biblical world, though…
In the first essay on the parable of the Prodigal Son, I suggested that the problems commentators and others encounter in interpreting Jesus three-part parable are not accidental. These are not just problems in our ignorance of cultural background. They are intentional features of the stories —stories designed to poke…
The story of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the most well-known story in the Bible. As others have observed, it may also be one of the most misunderstood. In two short essays, I will point out features of this story that are commonly neglected, aspects of Jesus’ parable that might…
The parable of Lazarus and the nameless rich man is not an independent story. It is part of a long context that begins in Luke 15:1, where Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners and the scribes and Pharisees grumble. In response to their hardheartedness, Jesus tells a three-part…
The Bible is written so that even when a reader cannot pick up on what might be deeper or more detailed aspects of a text, there is virtually always a message to be heard. In the ancient world, where the “reader” of Scripture would likely be a church official facing…
The distinction between garden (or vineyard) and field begins in Genesis 2. This relates to the ordering of the formless world. Plants of the field are contrasted with the garden planted by God in Genesis 2:5&8. Later on, under the Old Covenant the Israelites will be required to keep their…
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This continues a Sunday School series on worship, interrupted by the holidays and resumed on Sunday, January 23. INTRODUCTION In our previous studies, we have laid out some basic biblical patterns for worship. First, we examined the sacrificial character of worship, showing how the sequence of OT sacrifice provides a…
This continues a Sunday School series on worship, interrupted by the holidays and resumed on Sunday, January 23. INTRODUCTION In our previous studies, we have laid out some basic biblical patterns for worship. First, we examined the sacrificial character of worship, showing how the sequence of OT sacrifice provides a…
My son Christian is making up words, and I’m hoping to get them into wider circulation. Gauble: n., a bauble of exceptional gaudiness. Chucklement: n., merriment expressed with uncontrollable chuckling. As in, “He was overcome with chucklement.” Shrinkle: v., to shrink and wrinkle simultaneously; or, what plastic does in the…
Girard has tpyically provocative and stimulating things to say about Troilus & Cressida (in Theater of Envy ). 1) He focuses attention on Pandarus as a representative of ?desire made man.?EHis business is to inflame Troilus and Cressida to love, which he does through exaggerated praise of the one to…
Scattered notes from Augostino Lombardo, ?Fragments and scraps?Ein Piero Boitani, The European Tragedy of Troilus (Clarendon, 1989). 1) Love seems to be taking hold in the midst of war at the beginning of the play, with Troilus removing his arms to win the war that takes place within him and…
In that time became ill Aviyyah, son of Yarav?am. And said Yarav?am to his wife, ?Arise, please, And change yourself And they will not know that you [are] the wife of Yarav?am And walk/go to Shiloh. Behold there [is] Achiyyah the prophet He himself spoke concerning me as king over…
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