Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
This may not be a good title for an essay, especially one written by a Christian minister who is deeply sympathetic with the people of Hong Kong. I suspect that many of our friends there would be overjoyed at the prospect of a significant infusion of “democracy.” They even raise…
Despite its deadly serious purpose, The Revelation of Jesus Christ is the funniest book in the Bible. Jesus’ sheep hear His voice but they often fail to get His jokes. God always delivers His witticisms deadpan because that is the easiest way to separate the sheep from the goats in…
The study of symbolism is seen by some as a curiosity, rather far removed from the central matters of life. According to them, anyone who spends time studying Biblical imagery and symbolism may well be getting into a "dangerous" area. Persons who engage in an "overly symbolic" interpretation of Scripture…
The meaning of my title will not be apparent till the end, but he who endures will find intellectual relief, if not satisfaction. One of my favorite quotes from John Walvoord comes from his commentary on the book of Revelation. 1 With regard to the “stars of heaven” falling to…
Christmas is just around the corner, which means the topic of purchasing gifts for children has been floating around my conversations. Minimalism has been on trend for the last few years, and many families have adopted the mindset of “less is more” when it comes to gifts. In Christian circles,…
A Speech Given to a Christian School Hello High Schoolers and Middle Schoolers! I’m one of the local pastors in town, and one of my main jobs is to study the Bible. So I have come today to speak to you about some basic points about the Bible. One of…
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“Classic theories of modernization, from the 1950s,” write the editors of Reflections on Multiple Modernities , “identified the core of modernity, of modern social structure, as the decomposition of older ‘closed' formations and . . . of the growing potential for social mobilization, and the concomitant development of new structural,…
In a 2009 University of Michigan dissertation, Richard Persky explores the cultural meaning of time in ancient Greece, focusing on the concept of kairos . According to Persky, “a kairos is a moment of opportunity, the right time to do some particular thing. The allegorical sculpture made by Lysippos and…
Jerusalem descends from heaven a jeweled bride, with the luminosity of a precious stone, a “crystal-clear jasper” (v. 11; hos litho iaspidi krustallizonti ). She is also surrounded by a jasper wall (v. 18). How might the city be related to the wall? The structure of 21:18-22 gives us a…
In the Weekly Standard , Paul Cantor explains that both Shakespeare and Cervantes aimed their writing at a common target: Chivalry. He describes chivalry as “a noble ideal and at its best it did much to refine an otherwise coarse and brutal world, but it rested on shaky foundations and…
Susan Holman ( The Hungry Are Dying ) draws on recent scholarship to argue that “food doles, communal religious feasts, public works, or subsidized public entertainment prior to the Christianization of Graeco-Roman culture did not function out of any concern to alleviate poverty per se.” These “public works” or leitourgia…
Peter tells us that Jesus was the “just” man who suffered for the sins of the “unjust,” and that the purpose of this suffering was to “bring us to God.” William Dalton ( Christ's Proclamation to the Spirits ) points out that the verb prosago has technical legal meaning in…
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