Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Whatever else the 2016 Presidential cycle has accomplished, it has brought the chasm between nationalism and globalism into sharp relief. Many see this divide as the issue of the campaign (Robert Merry) or of the century (Pat Buchanan). It seems to be a choice we have to make. Christians must…
Salvation is a gift. The righteousness of justification (Romans 5:17) and eternal life (Romans 6:23) are gifts freely offered. According to Risto Saarinen ( God and the Gift ), “God is directly called the giver 104 times [in Scripture], of which 42 are in John’s Gospel and John’s Letters. In…
In the last 40 odd years of studying the Bible, I have read more essays and commentaries on Deuteronomy 6:4 than I can recall. I have also more than twice changed my view on what should be the correct translation of Israel’s central confession. What is so complicated? After the…
Satan is currently bound from gathering the nations in kingly rebellion so that Jesus might gather them in priestly unity. Everything which Scripture records for us, no matter how mundane or mysterious, exists as part of a process of growth to maturity. This transformation is achieved through relationships established by…
God’s people are a missionary people, and this is not true only of the New Testament church. God called Abraham to bless the Gentiles through him, and one of Israel’s recurring sins was her failure to carry out this mission. Israel was supposed evoke praise from the Gentiles, but instead…
Are you ready for the New Year? Are you ready to follow Jesus wherever He takes you this year? Are you read to follow Him into the garden? Are you ready to stay at His side to be arrested, interrogated, tortured, crucified, buried? Are you ready to follow Jesus wherever…
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Odd thing: John’s gospel has more references to God’s will and choice and election than any other gospel. But in two cases, Jesus insists that He chose the disciples in the context of talking about Judas. John 6:70: “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of…
Odd thing: John’s gospel has more references to God’s will and choice and election than any other gospel. But in two cases, Jesus insists that He chose the disciples in the context of talking about Judas. John 6:70: “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of…
Sermon outline for September 28: Luke 8:1-56 INTRODUCTION Luke likes to organize his gospel into triads. In chapter 7, there were a series of triadic patterns: Jesus asks three times “What did you go into the wilderness to see?” (vv. 24-26), the sinful woman does threefold homage to Jesus (washing,…
From Derrida, still talking about the analogy of father-son and origin-speech: the father is not the generator or procreator in any “real” sense prior to or outside all relation to language. In what way, indeed, is the father/son relation distinguishable from a mere cause/effect or generator/engendered relation, if not by…
Back to thinking about Derrida, Hesiod, fathers, and sons. If the origin of speech is, as Derrida says, the “father” of the discourse, then the opposing myths of father-son (i.e., Hesiod and the gospel) are also opposing theories of signification and language. Derrida is of Hesiod’s tribe, who believes that…
James Smith of Calvin College has an important analysis of Catherine Pickstock’s attempt to conflate Christian incarnation and Platonic participation in his book, Speech and Theology (in the Radical Orthodoxy series). He admits that participation can affirm the material and bodily as instruments for the soul’s salvation, but questions whether…
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