Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Every advent of new media creates the justifiable reaction from some that the necessarily accompanied amputation may not be worth the extension made possible by the new tools. This is not unique to the Digital Age. Lamoignon Malesherbes, the French politician who was counsel for the defense of Louis XVI,…
A response to Gage Crowder's " The Hole in our Hope ?" Already, the first pages of the Bible promise a bright future. The story starts with the creation of heaven and earth, where heaven is perfect, but the earth is in a state of formless emptiness. Yet, God takes…
A rejoinder to Bubu Jarmulak's essay, " Embrace Pessimism ." Whereas calumnious critiques are reflections of more on the critic than the work criticized, good critiques are always opportunities for reassessment and improvement if they are received as such . Since its renaissance, the biblical doctrine of postmillennialism—or “optimistic eschatology,”…
Several decades ago, a pastor (and friend) mentioned in passing at one of our regular breakfasts together that he wasn’t satisfied with the usual reading of Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane, the usual reading being that Jesus asked the Father to avoid the Cross at Gethsemane. We turned to the passage,…
On May 21, 1604, the cathedral of Toledo in Spain held job interviews for the post of choirmaster, the head of music at the church. The position had been vacated when the previous occupant, Alonso Lobo, was poached by the nearby cathedral of Seville, and Toledo needed a replacement who…
Imagine — counterfactually: on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus held up an empty hand and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant poured out for you. Drink of it.’ But there was no cup, no wine, nothing. If there’s no sign of the covenant, is there…
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There are a couple of fairly clear chiasms in Luke 12: Verses 1-12 work out this way: A. Leaven of Pharisees, v 1 B. Hidden will be revealed, vv 2-3 C. Do not fear those who kill body, v 4 D. Fear the one who has authority to cast into…
I mentioned Virginia Postrel’s book “The Substance of Style” some time ago, having read a review in The Atlantic. I’ve now had a chance to look at the book, and it is a bracing, forcefully contrarian book in defense of the “aesthetic moment” that we are in in popular culture.…
Exhortation for November 2: On the eve of the Reformation, the church was more geographically limited than it had been for a millennium, and it was on the defensive. Long before, Christianity been forced underground in its birthplace in the Middle East, and had been routed by Islam throughout North…
I’ve been running a little experiment: Working on Romans 2, I’m trying to determine who Paul’s interlocutor is, whether that can even be determined at all. Is he addressing a Jew or a Gentile or a colorless hypothetical human-in-general? My suspicion is that it’s a Jew, and one hint of…
I’ve been running a little experiment: Working on Romans 2, I’m trying to determine who Paul’s interlocutor is, whether that can even be determined at all. Is he addressing a Jew or a Gentile or a colorless hypothetical human-in-general? My suspicion is that it’s a Jew, and one hint of…
“To the Jew first”: The first time this is used in Romans, it’s good news for Jews, because Paul says that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to the Jew first (1:18). The next time he uses the phrase, things are a bit different. He has been…
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