Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Summary In what follows, I will consider the “year-stamps” employed in Scripture, i.e., statements of the form, “Such-and-such an event took place in the Xth year of Y.” In the process, I will suggest some ways in which the Biblical narrative might relate to events in the extra-Biblical world, though…
In the first essay on the parable of the Prodigal Son, I suggested that the problems commentators and others encounter in interpreting Jesus three-part parable are not accidental. These are not just problems in our ignorance of cultural background. They are intentional features of the stories —stories designed to poke…
The story of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the most well-known story in the Bible. As others have observed, it may also be one of the most misunderstood. In two short essays, I will point out features of this story that are commonly neglected, aspects of Jesus’ parable that might…
The parable of Lazarus and the nameless rich man is not an independent story. It is part of a long context that begins in Luke 15:1, where Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners and the scribes and Pharisees grumble. In response to their hardheartedness, Jesus tells a three-part…
The Bible is written so that even when a reader cannot pick up on what might be deeper or more detailed aspects of a text, there is virtually always a message to be heard. In the ancient world, where the “reader” of Scripture would likely be a church official facing…
The distinction between garden (or vineyard) and field begins in Genesis 2. This relates to the ordering of the formless world. Plants of the field are contrasted with the garden planted by God in Genesis 2:5&8. Later on, under the Old Covenant the Israelites will be required to keep their…
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Jesus evaluates and assesses the angels of the churches of Asian Minor (Revelation 2-3). On what basis? What does He know about them? Mainly, He knows their works ( erga ), as He repeatedly says: “I know your works” (2:2); “I know your works” (2:19); “I know your works” (3:1);…
In his Paul and the Torah , Lloyd Gaston argues that the Pauline phrase erga tou nomou , “works of the law,” is a subjective genitive. That is, it refers to what the law works, and specifically to what Torah works, not to the obedience that one may or may…
The parable of the sower teaches that some receive the word, have life, and grow, only to wither and die. Yet in other places the NT seems to indicate that those who ultimately die were never alive to begin with. Tares were sown by the evil one from the outset.…
In his study of Papuans of the Trans-Fly , F.E. Williams remarked on the role of homosexual relations in the rites of initiation: “The bachelors had recourse to sodomy, a practice which was not reprobated but was actually a custom of the country - and a custom in the true…
Abortion rights have been defended as a matter of protecting a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body. Why not allow a woman to choose to use her body to sell sexual favors, or to perform sex acts before a camera? That is even more obviously a…
A woman clothed in the sun, standing on the moon, crowned with stars, is about to give birth (Revelation 12). The child is a male ( arsen , v. 5), the shepherd who will rule the nations (v. 5). He is a new Adam, a point neatly underscored by the…
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