Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When God created Adam, He gave him both a vision and a responsibility. The big vision was the Dominion Mandate. The more specific calling was to cultivate and guard the Garden. God also told Adam about the gold of Havilah, which was good and beautiful (that is how the Hebrew…
After the death of Jan Hus (1369–1415), his successors, the Hussites, began to develop his thoughts on the theology and practice of the Church, particularly on= the question of the lay chalice. This time, however, it was not a question of whether this should be permitted at all—after all, this…
Imagine a friend of yours got involved in a commune, one of the really crunchy ones that does their own farming and such along with poetry nights and music and art. They’re pretty good at all this, actually. They’re using some really interesting permaculture practices at the communal farm, the…
Genesis 22, the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, is one of the more well-known typologically dissected passages in the Bible. But just for the sake of dotting “i”s, here is a quick rundown: The promised son’s appearing was awaited a very long time (Genesis 12:4; 15:2–3; 16:16; 17:17; 21:1–5;…
A Narrative Sermon on Luke 22:24-46 As Luke walked through the rain toward the corner house he was apprehensive. That surprised him. He knew all along that this was the climax of the process—that he would have to present his work to these men before it could be copied and…
In 2004, an article by Slavoj Žižek appeared in Psychoanalytic Review entitled, ‘What Can Psychoanalysis Tell Us About Cyberspace?’ One of the answers that Žižek offers is that cyberspace creates an environment within which the consumer gets to play in a world where there is no God. In his use…
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A ugustine spends a lot of time in various treatises, especially in City of God , Book 12, explaining the nature of time as a created reality and distinguishing the Christian view of creation from Greek, especially Platonic, views of eternal matter and an eternal world. He believes the Platonic…
Augustine famously presented a “privation” view of evil., Evil is not a substance but a privation of being. This does not mean that evil has no reality of any sort. It is simply not a created substance. This account helps Augustine to locate the core of the corruption of the…
Psalm 104 celebrates the glories of creation, both the events of the original creation when Yahweh stretched out heaven like a tent curtain and made the clouds His chariot (vv. 2-3) and the continuous glory of the world that we know - the mountains and the sea, the springs that…
The first angel in Revelation 14 announces what most translations calls an “eternal gospel” (v. 6; Gr. euaggelion aionion ). David deSilva prefers to translate it “an age-long accession announcement” (279). The picture in view is this: “this angel in the role of herald of a great ruler, a supra-mundane…
Music intersects with all theology and all culture. Scripture is full of “data” about music, and possesses a musical quality in its composition. Christian worship is musical worship, and is itself a through-composed symphony. As an art form, music raises questions about our relationship to the material world (instruments and…
Augustine argues that certain hierarchies are built into the creation ( City of God 11.16). There is, for instance, a natural hierarchy of sentient, intelligent, immortal souls. In addition to these natural hierarchies, he suggests that there are hierarchies of “use.” Hierarchies of use are often the reverse of natural…
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