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Writing

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

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Revelation

Rescuing Revelation: Part II

This is Part II of a 2-part essay. For Part 1, click HERE . Covenant context Most Bible teachers apply the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles directly to Christians today without any thought of the historical – and more importantly, legal – context. The ministry of Christ and the…

by Mike BullOctober 10, 2017
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Revelation

Rescuing Revelation: Part 1

Introduction The book of Revelation polarises Christians. Some become obsessed with ‘cracking its code’ while others throw it into the too hard basket. Thankfully, recent advances in biblical theology enable us to liberate this enigmatic book from both mistreatment and obscurity. The prophecy is attractive to some because of its…

by Mike BullOctober 5, 2017
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Biblical Theology

Abraham's Life as a Type

I'm considering the possibility that the life of Abraham as recounted in Genesis contains a typological prophecy of the history of Israel; that is, that the events in Abraham’s life broadly anticipate events in Israel’s history. This kind of pattern is seen in the case of Moses, for instance, because…

by James B. JordanOctober 3, 2017
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Culture

Teenagers and the Smartphone Beast

According to this recent article in The Atlantic , teenage promiscuity is decreasing. Apparently there is a general "decline in dating" which also "tracks with a decline in sexual activity." The figures are startling: The drop is the sharpest for ninth-graders, among whom the number of sexually active teens has…

by Steve JefferySeptember 28, 2017
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Matthew

Fulfilling the First Commandment

"Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'" - Matthew 22:37 Jesus says that this is the most important commandment: to love God with our heart, soul, and mind. If we obey this command,…

by Lindsey TollefsonSeptember 26, 2017
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Eucharist

Strange and Glorious New Rites

At the last supper, Jesus took bread and, having given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples while saying, "Take, eat, this is My body given for you. Do this for My memorial." What Jesus did was recognized by the disciples, because it took place every morning…

by James B. JordanSeptember 21, 2017

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Literature

Missionary Dramatists

A review of Jeffrey Knapp’s Shakespeare’s Tribe in the November 7 TLS begins with the comment that Elizabethan dramatists approached their work with a missionary aim: “Countering the fears of religious commentators who believed acting to be nothing more than hypocrisy, this approach admitted the element of deception in theatre…

December 9, 2003
Literature

J. M. Coetzee

An interesting summary of the work of Nobel-prize winner J.M. Coetzee in the December 8 issue of The Weekly Standard . The reviewer, Michael Kochin, suggests that Coetzee, who is both an academic critic and a novelist, poses unique challenges to Western intellectuals, whether postmodern multiculturalists or conservative classicists. Kochin…

December 9, 2003

Humanist Iconoclasts?

Were there Humanist iconoclasts? It seems plausible, given the interest in Platonism and Neoplatonism among Humanists. And here’s a quotation from the Humanist Vives: “If that very picture which we are gazing at, is obscene, does that not contaminate our minds, especially if it be subtly and artistically depicted? Not…

December 9, 2003
Theology

John Donne on Virginity

John Donne on Virginity (from Paradoxes and Problemes ): “I call not that Virginity a vertue, which resideth only in the Bodies integrity . . . But I call that Virginity a vertue which is willing and desirous to yeeld it selfe upon honest and lawfull terms, which just reason…

December 8, 2003
Theology

Pastoral Similitude

A pastoral similitude, in honor of Jonathan Edwards: What to do with a low-burning fire? Sometimes, additional wood will smother the fire. But sometimes additional wood is just what the fire needs to revive. So, when zeal is running at a low ebb, we should not necessarily remove burdens until…

December 8, 2003
Science

Nicolaus Steno

The November 21 TLS has a review of a biography of Nicolaus Steno (1638-86), a Danish physician, theologian, and convert to Roman Catholicism who was beatified in 1988. The reviewer gives this account of Steno’s contribution to medicine: “Between 1663 and 1665, he discovered the cheek salivary duct, identified female…

December 8, 2003

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