Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When a certain Samaritan village refused Jesus’ attempt to visit, James and John asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven upon it. The allusion to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is evident, but, as the story shows, James’ and John’s thinking was entirely warped. Jesus rebuked…
In the first part of this essay, I considered paideia (formation)and mimesis (imitation) in the context of Aristotle’s virtue ethics and that of the New Testament. The overall concern is to realize how relevant is Aristotle’s ethics both to diagnosing our current malaise and to enculturing our children, though we…
In these posts I am inviting you into my philosophical reflection about integration , the absence of which we feel palpably in our fragmented world. My hope is for us to understand it more deeply, and to be ourselves reintegrated in the process. At this point in this extended inquiry…
It’s hard to imagine someone, centuries from now, mistaking our culture for a moral highpoint in the history of the West. Increasingly the news is dominated by school shootings, abusive policing, sexploitation of women, and increasing rates of suicide, addiction, and divorce. In response, the Left calls for regulations, surveillance,…
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (Ps. 34:17-18) God is listening. He is listening when we ask Him for financial provision,…
The allusions to Mt. Sinai in the transfiguration story point to Jesus as a new Moses and even more as Yahweh, the God who met Moses and Elijah on the mountain. The fact that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah spoke of Jesus’ “exodus” suggests that the mountain of transfiguration was intended…
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In an extended review of my Delivered from the Elements of the World , Brad Littlejohn argues that I’m addicted to novelty. I write theology in which, so it seems to Brad, “newness is prized above all.” I am a Protestant primitivist yet at the same time a Protestant futurist,…
A s David brings the ark into Jerusalem, he assembles Levites and priests to carry it to its place, as Torah requires. 1 Chronicles 15:5-11 enumerates Levites in each of six subtribes: 1. Koathites, 120 2. Merarites, 220 3. Gershomites, 130 4. Sons of Elizaphan, 200 5. Sons of Hebron,…
“A rise, Yahweh, to Your resting place, you and the ark of your strength” (Psalm 132:8). The Psalm describes the ascent of Yahweh…s ark-throne into Jerusalem as an entry into rest. Yahweh has conquered, Yahweh has taken His throne, Yahweh enters Sabbath. Unsurprisingly, 1 Chronicles 15, which recounts the ascent…
P atrick Deneen argues that liberal order is incompatible with limited government. Liberalism is devoted to the protection of rights, including the right to happiness; its ends are limitless, and so the scope of liberal government is likewise unlimited. At the end of the essay, Deneen quotes this illuminating passage…
M IT’s Technology Review reports on research by computer scientist Andrew Reagan of the University of Vermont that uses data-mining to determine the most common story-arcs of 1700 English stories and novels. Their method is: “words have a positive or negative emotional impact. So words can be a measure of…
N inety-five-year-old Walter Laqueur has an interest in thinking that the aged are still useful. In an essay in The American Interest , he assembles ancient evidence in support: Foolish people, Cicero says, blame old age for their own faults and shortcomings, but Enius did not do so. As an…
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