Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Some of the key ways Biblical writers draw attention to important details in their stories are by the use of key words, repetition, and structural devices like chiasms and parallel constructions. The Bible sounds different, even odd, to us sometimes because of the use of these and similar literary conventions.…
It is pretty standard in conservative Christian circles to condemn unbelief for pretensions of “autonomy.” Cornelius Van Til famously (at least among those of us who knows who he is) said that “There is no alternative but that of theonomy and autonomy.” Greg Bahnsen appealed to this quotation by labeling…
Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever taught — the Light of the World, whose pure Truth brought sight to the blind (John 9). Almost no one — even those who speak openly against Him — disputes His reputation as a wise and good teacher of the way of love.…
It is clear that the events in Esther are an integral part of the history of the formation of the Restoration Covenant Era. Amalek attacks. Amalek is spoiled. The spoils are used to build the Temple, in the sense that the crude Temple of Zerubbabel can now be glorified with…
It is not coincidental that John Calvin speaks most strongly in defense of vernacular language just after his defense of singing in church. "From this also it plainly appears that public prayers must be couched not in Greek among the Latins, nor in Latin among the French or English, as…
In A Voyage Around the World , George Anson recounts the effects of scurvy upon an unfortunate man: But a most extraordinary circumstance, and what would be scarcely credible upon any single evidence, is, that the scars of wounds which had been for many years healed, were forced open again…
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As Guy Stroumsa describes it ( A New Science ), comparative religion originates from a combined political and intellectual challenge to European thinkers. First, the wars of religion led some to question the primacy of Christianity and to search for some religious (or non-religious) substitute to serve as civil religion.…
Vanessa Grigoriadis writes a lengthy profile of Justin Bieber at Vulture , analyzing along the way our “sadistic” fascination with watching young celebrities lurch their way toward adulthood. Bieber is the name of a legion: Most of today’s biggest pop stars “were teen stars, or at least made money off…
Pierre Daniel Huet, seventeenth-century bishop of Soissons, was one of the most respected scholars of his time. A historian of religion and apologist, he was also one of the first critics of Descartes. As Thomas Lennon described it in The Plain Truth , one of Huet’s central criticism was that…
John distinguishes between different degrees and sorts of sins (1 John 5): There is a sin that leads to death and another sin that does not lead to death. The substance of this distinction doesn’t concern me here, but rather the form. John’s distinction is not a pragmatic one. Sins…
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, liturgy for liturgy. Isaiah warns those who forsake Yahweh by preparing sacrificial feasts for Fortune and Destiny (65:11). The judgment for this sacrificial infringement is itself sacrificial. Those who worship Destiny are “destined” (65:12; the Hebrew verb is from manah, also the root of…
Yahweh will take some of the clusters from Judah to make new wine (Isaiah 65:8-9). Those who seek Yahweh will inherit land (v. 10). But those who forsake him are in danger. Isaiah ends the section with a beautifully constructed set of four contrasting beatitudes and curses (65:13-14). Each verset…
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