Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Evangelistic Message to the Uninformed: 1 Timothy 3.14-16 Even though this is written as a sermon for delivery, and even though it was preached in a homiletics class, I decided I can’t post it as a sermon because it was not truly preached at a place where nonchristians wanted to…
If we only read the Gospels of Mark and Luke, we might get the impression that Jesus’ ascension was on resurrection Sunday. Matthew speaks of going to Galilee but he does not put things into a clear time frame. John shows us that Jesus appeared to the disciples eight days…
The most cursory glance at the history of Western literature reveals that it has been deeply influenced by the Bible. Some of the greatest classics of Western literature draw their plots, characters, and ideas largely from Scripture; Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost are two of the most notable…
Few themes emerge as profoundly and persistently in the streams of biblical narrative as the conflict between light and darkness, and the juxtaposition of humanity with monstrosity. These themes not only weave through the fabric of Scripture, emerging in stories from Genesis to Revelation, but also stitch together the human…
In John Wenham’s work, Easter Enigma , he devotes an entire chapter to Mary Magdalene, which is rephrased and summarized here. 1 One of the interesting things that Wenham said was that Mary Magdalene was the second “most favored woman in the Bible.” 2 He adds, “Yet apart from a…
God made man to live in a larger relational context, and even in high rebellion, man cannot escape his created nature. Instead, that nature takes revenge on rebellious man. Autonomous and alone, the self craves absolution but recognizes no authority that might give it; it thirsts for glory but rejects…
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Ackerman points to an intriguing phenomenological difference between our dependence on air and our dependence on food. We breathe involuntarily; if we try to suffocate ourselves, we will pass out before we die, and we’ll begin breathing again. But (under normal circumstances) we don’t get food unless we seek it…
Proverbs 9:1-6, 13-18: Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars; she has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table; she has sent out her maidens, she calls from the tops of the heights of the city: ?Whoever is…
The always-interesting Diane Ackerman gives this wonderful list of aphrodisiacs: “Looked at in the right light, any food might be thought aphrodisiac. Phallic-shaped foods such as carrots, leeks, cucumbers, pickles, sea cucumbers (which become tumescent when soaked), eels, bananas, and asparagus all have been prized as aphrodisiacs at one time…
hordes rushing at me armed to the teeth from the future
Robert S. Miola’s article on Shakespeare’s Rome in the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays is superb. Here are a couple of excerpts: ?The spectacle of such bloodshed and death defines Shakespeare?s ancient Romans as other, as deeply alien and strange. But Roman violence had other significations for original audiences,…
Robert S. Miola’s article on Shakespeare’s Rome in the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays is superb. Here are a couple of excerpts: ?The spectacle of such bloodshed and death defines Shakespeare?s ancient Romans as other, as deeply alien and strange. But Roman violence had other significations for original audiences,…
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