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

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Biblical Horizons

An Older Essay on the Gospel Order

I thought it might be good to put this up here, since it is 14 years old, and itself reflects earlier discussion. From this you can see that we at BH have been considering this notion for quite some time. Clearly, the last word has not been said. — James…

by James B. JordanFebruary 14, 2008
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Biblical Horizons

Chiasms in James

Hopefully, my commentary on James will be out later this year. But here are a few chiasms for your consideration. I think the James 5 chiasm orginally came from Doug Jordan. The entire book of James is focused on how the pastors and leaders (“brothers”) of the church use their…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 14, 2008
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Job

Parables | (Part 2)

In my first post I noted that the parables of Jesus were not simply illustrative stories. They are really nothing like the kind of simple, homely illustrations that preachers often use to explain difficult concepts to their congregations. Just to be clear: there’s nothing wrong with illustrating one’s sermonic statements.…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 14, 2008
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Ephesians

The Praise Precedes the Indicative

Ephesians is often treated as a pure type example of the Pauline method that “the indicative preceds the imperative.” But what Paul does first is pray . Simply reading verse 3 and following involves readers in a prayer of thanksgiving to God–and much more so for those listening to the…

by Mark HorneFebruary 14, 2008
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Luke

"I Came Not to Call the Righteous, but Sinners"

Yesterday, I took part with my oldest son in a church-sponsored city outreach project (not because I’m especially prone to such behavior but because my son has a Boy Scout requirement that this would help him meet). Before we were sent out on our various jobs, the leader gave a…

by Mark HorneFebruary 11, 2008
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Biblical Studies

The Sequence of the Four Gospels

There is a scene in Prince Caspian , the second in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia that helps explain why it is we have four Gospels, that is four accounts of the Good News of Jesus Christ—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is the account of Lucy’s longed-for experience…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 9, 2008

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Philosophy

Augustine’s Decentered Self

Maguire again, this time describing Augustine’s idea of memory and self: “This dynamism of relation, manifest above all in the way that God’s love permits the love of creatures for God, and the love among creatures through God, is for Augustine the ‘ground’ of the self’s unity. That this relationality…

June 23, 2006
Philosophy

Augustine’s Decentered Self

Maguire again, this time describing Augustine’s idea of memory and self: “This dynamism of relation, manifest above all in the way that God’s love permits the love of creatures for God, and the love among creatures through God, is for Augustine the ‘ground’ of the self’s unity. That this relationality…

June 23, 2006

Blogs and the Reformation

In a characteristically thoughtful meditation on the strengths and weakness of blogs (on the Books and Culture site), Alan Jacobs includes these reflections from CS Lewis: “As I think about these architectural deficiencies [of blogs], and the deficiencies of my own character, I find myself meditating on a passage from…

June 23, 2006
History

Constructive knowledge

In his fascinating study, The Conversion of Imagination, Matthew Maguire offers notes that “imagination is not always best understood as an emancipatory faculty that moves separately from or against scientific rationality.” Rather, citing the work of Amos Funkenstein, Maguire suggests that “a variant of exalted imagination - that is, one…

June 23, 2006

St Charles and St John

“When the Church and Monarchy were restored on 19 May, 1660, Canterbury and York, being the two primacies of the Church of England, assembled their convocations and canonized King Charles, adding his name to the ecclesiastical calendar in the Book of Common Prayer. In the time of Queen Victoria this…

June 23, 2006

Sermon Outline, June 25

INTRODUCTION After Hilkiah finds the book of the law in the temple, Josiah embarks on a thorough reform of Judah’s worship. But his reformation extends beyond the borders of Judah; Josiah not only reverses the sins of the kinds of the South but the sin of Jeroboam the son of…

June 22, 2006

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