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History

Congregational Theocracy: That Time Theocrats Ran Puritan New England

Timon Cline wrote recently that “theonomists” didn’t run Puritan New England. 1 He is correct, in his major thesis, that the claim that “Puritanism and the natural law tradition are antithetical” is “wildly ahistorical.” Mr. Cline demonstrates that Puritans repeatedly extolled natural law. Besides the Puritan sources Mr. Cline mustered,…

by John CarpenterAugust 9, 2022
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Mark

The Land of the Walking Trees

The Church is the land of the walking trees. In Mark’s Gospel, the identity of Jesus is slowly and progressively revealed. Though St. Mark announces at the beginning of his narrative that Jesus Christ is “the Son of God” (1:1), this is a reality that must be spoon-fed to His…

by Jackson ShepardAugust 4, 2022
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Ephesians

The Significance of Ephesians (with a comparison to Romans)

All Scripture is of ultimate significance as the word of God, but it may be helpful to think about what makes a book (in this case, a letter) possibly unique within the canon. In this case, the “general” nature of Ephesians should stand out, but it often is not recognized…

by Mark HorneAugust 2, 2022
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Ecclesiastes

A Time to Kill (Ecclesiastes 3:3)

Where do we draw the lines between what is right and wrong? This question is fundamental to civilization, fundamental to a free society. To put this question in the bluntest and most offense terms: if there is a time to kill — which Solomon says there is — whom shall…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 28, 2022
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Biblical Horizons

Broadening Our View of the Trinity

This article was originally posted in May of 1994. We speak of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The early Church tended to speak of Him as Father, Word, and Spirit. In this short essay, I want to suggest some other ways to think of the Trinity, ways that…

by James B. JordanJuly 26, 2022
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Jonah

Journeying Prophets in Kings

Jonah’s Home The story of JONAH belongs in the book of KINGS. JONAH balances the story of the unnamed Judean prophet (1K13) in KINGS’ literary structure. Each story describes a journeying prophet that crosses land or sea to confront a wayward king. The two stories are located during the reigns…

by Scott FairbanksJuly 21, 2022

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The Impossibility of Adulthood

J oseph Heath and Andrew Potter ( Nation of Rebels ) characterize the 1999 film, American Beauty , as “a completely uncompromising recitation of '60s countercultural ideology. It's the hippies versus the fascists, still slugging it out three decades after Woodstock.” The characters split neatly into two groups: “the countercultural…

January 20, 2017

Frames and Frame-Breaks

L inguist and philosopher George Lakoff, co-author of Metaphors We Live By and many other works, wants to help Democrats win elections. In a Salon interview with Paul Rosenberg, he explains the advantages conservatives have in American elections. Studying and doing business, he argues, is good training for political persuasion:…

January 20, 2017

Battling Shakespeare

I n an essay on “America's Shakespeare” at National Interest , Algis Valiunas traces the shifting political of Shakespeare in the US. Whitman initially thought Shakespeare was “poisonous to the idea of the pride and dignity of the common people, the life-blood of Democracy.” Further study of the history plays…

January 20, 2017

Origins of Atheism

N ick Spencer ( Atheists: The Origin of the Species ) doesn't believe the standard creation myths about atheism. According to the standard account, atheism is the produce of reason and science: “men began to work the metal, which they called ‘reason’, using it to forge a new weapon, which…

January 20, 2017

Early Transhumanism

I n his Eclipse of Man , Charles Rubin traces a genealogy of transhumanism. Among the sources is a now-forgotten 1872 book by William Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man . Reade looked ahead to the time when science would enable human beings to transcend their bodies: “These bodies which…

January 20, 2017

David's Plunder

D avid is no Achan. Achan was the Judahite who seized plunder from Jericho, booty that belonged to Yahweh. Achan's sacrilege led to a disastrous defeat at Ai, which was erased only after Joshua executed Achan and his complicit family (Joshua 7; 1 Chronicles 2:7). David is no Achan. When…

January 19, 2017

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