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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Masculinity

Ringing the Brothel Door

Bruce Marshall once wrote that every young man who rings the bell at a brothel is unconsciously looking for God. While it is not necessarily true that the inward desire of every man is ultimately a thirst for righteousness, it is true that every sin is the disordering of a…

by Garrett SoucyOctober 31, 2023
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Ruth

Work and Gratitude in Ruth

In a previous essay , I argued that the story which begins with Lot and culminates in Ruth’s great-grandson David follows God’s five-fold pattern of creative work as laid out by Jim Jordan: taking something in hand (in this case, the Abrahamic family), restructuring it, distributing the product of labor,…

by Josh JensenOctober 27, 2023
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Books

Men, Marriage, and the Feminine Imperative: A Review of "Men and Marriage"

Gilder, George. Men and Marriage. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2023. 1 By 1973, the hightide of second-wave feminism had flooded the beaches of American culture. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique eroded the shores of traditional female roles by naming and stirring up further domestic discontentment. Kate Millet wrote her dissertation-turned-book,…

by Bill SmithOctober 17, 2023
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Galatians

Get Behind Me, Eliphaz!

The Book of Job is a very tortuous book. The arguments of Job and his friends are shot through with truth and error hopelessly mixed together. Every line of contentious poetry stands locked in deadly battle with every other line. As maddening as this can be for a reader who…

by Jonathan WhiteOctober 10, 2023
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Apostle Paul

Before His Conversion, Paul Knew Jesus

More than once in the last 50 years it has occurred to me that Paul might have known Jesus before He appeared to Paul on the Damascus road, but I had never taken up the notion in earnest until recently when I ran into a book by Stanley Porter titled…

by Ralph Allan SmithOctober 4, 2023
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Acts

Did Peter Found the Church in Rome?

The question in the title is genuine, not polemic. I could be perfectly happy to follow an ancient — and what is regarded as a well-attested — tradition. But I do not feel compelled to follow it simply because it is tradition. I would like to have arguments that Peter…

by Ralph Allan SmithSeptember 26, 2023

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Trinity Institute: A Student’s Perspective

As a teacher, Dr. Leithart modeled the deep and careful reading of Scripture that first attracted me to his writing. He also modeled a keen interest in tracing out the liturgical and cultural ramifications of the Bible. Academic theology departments are often sadly compartmentalized: one has to decide whether to…

October 8, 2012

Trinity Institute: A Pastor’s Perspective

I was led to the work of Jim Jordan and Peter Leithart at seminary. As I read and listened, I came to realize that the Bible is bigger and more beautiful than I’d ever dreamed. And fun - I started reading Scripture once more with the hunger I’d had as…

October 4, 2012
Theology

Martyrdom and self-narration

Michael Jenson concludes in his Martyrdom and Identity: The Self on Trial that, while martyrdom is a form of Christian identity, it is not a matter of self-narration: “Martyrdom is not a sign that the Christian self is always at odds with earthly government; but neither is the authentic Christian…

October 3, 2012
History

Travail of Poland

The Economist recently reviewed Halik Kochanski’s The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War , which the reviewer called the first “comprehensive English-language history of Poland at war.” Even in the brief format of a review, it makes for numbing reading. For instance: “Poland fought on…

October 3, 2012

Structure in Isaiah 45

After listening to 20+ students talk about Isaiah 45:1-13, I’ve concluded that it’s a chiasm: A. Cyrus’ way is smoothed as the Lord shatters city gates and gives him treasures, vv 1-4 B. Yahweh the Creator does this to make Himself known, vv 5-7 C. Righteousness rains down and produces…

October 3, 2012

Linguistic boundaries

Boyarin again ( Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism (Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture) , 9), suggesting a linguistic paradigm for understanding the divergences and interactions between Christianity and Judaism: “Separate languages . . . are merely artifacts of the official canonization of a particular dialect…

October 3, 2012

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