Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Inspired by our recent podcast on Christmas and Advent music recommendations, we offer here a list of excellent recordings that are sure to enrich your Advent and Christmas season. Praetorius: Mass for Christmas Morning Paul McCreesh with the Gabrieli Consort and Players Amazon | Spotify | Apple Music 2. Christmas…
In the year 1483 in the city of Nuremberg, the leaders of the renowned Saint Lawrence Church were seeking to redesign their altar, and above the table where the priests presided over the eucharist, they wanted new art installed above the prestigious Krell altar. What they decided on took everyone…
The consequences of disobedience start with exile from the garden of God and the Tree of Yahweh, but they do not end there. They cascade down through the structure of the dynastic order. Everything which had previously been given in the Kingdom of Elohim is either taken back or curtailed…
Parallelism: A Course Correction If you have ever studied Hebrew poetry, you have probably heard its basic poetic feature described as “parallelism.” Hebrew poetry is not metered, it does not rhyme, it does not employ many of the common poetical tropes, but its distinctive (and almost universal) feature is commonly…
In The Crown and the Courts , David C. Flatto traces the development of the idea of judicial independence in Jewish commentaries on the Scriptures – particularly Deuteronomy 17 – from the Second Temple and early rabbinic periods. These periods roughly span 400 BC to 300 AD. Flatto does not…
A curious feature of the Infancy Narratives in the Gospel of Luke is the naming of John the Baptist. When the angel appears to Zechariah, he is instructed to give his promised son the name John (Luke 1:13). On the day of John’s circumcision, Luke tells us that “they [presumably…
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A final installment of my review of Naphtali Meshel’s The “Grammar” of Sacrifice .
It’s common to distinguish two different types of atonement theory - objective and subjective. Objective theories stress that the death of Jesus achieves something in itself; often objective theories stress the Godward dimension of the atonement, that Jesus has made satisfaction for sin or propitiated wrath by His death. They…
People who don’t know much bout the Bible still know what “knowing in the biblical sense” means. It’s assumed that it’s a common euphemism. But it isn’t. It’s used only in the first few chapters of Genesis, and then in 1 Samuel. Adam knows Eve, and she conceives Cain (Genesis…
At several points in Galatians, Paul distinguishes between the Abrahamic promise and the Mosaic Torah. He charges that his opponents want to return to the obsolete Mosaic system by forcing circumcision on Gentiles. Problem is, circumcision was given to Abraham , not Moses. It seems to be a sign of…
At The Week , Damon Linker poses some uncomfortable questions for advocates of same-sex marriage. “Do you support the right of consenting adult brothers and sisters to marry? If not, why not? What legal or moral principle justifies granting marriage rights to unrelated same-sex couples while denying such rights to…
Zadie Smith finds in a forty-foot beer ad on a nearby wall a summary of a Manhattan creed. Smith writes, “beer used to be sold on the dream of communal fun: have a beer with a buddy, or lots of buddies. People crowded the frame, laughing and smiling. It was…
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