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The Lady and Her Jewels: An Epiphany Meditation

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery (Revelation 12:1-2). Then Joshua spoke…

by Richard BledsoeJanuary 6, 2015
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Anointing

Fattening Our Suffering

In his post asking Ought we Anoint the Dying? Peter Leithart makes an excellent and important point about our suffering as members of Christ. However, he only parenthetically mentions that the verb in question in James 5 is not chrio but aleipho . By assuming that these words are interchangeable,…

by Robert MaddoxDecember 30, 2014
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James

Death as Frenemy

We spend a lot of time in the church talking about what it means to live like a Christian. But what does it mean to die like a Christian? If we are to follow Christ in life, what does it mean for us to follow him in death as well?…

by Rich LuskDecember 23, 2014
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Literature

Was Shakespeare A Christian?

How would one go about answering the question posed by my title? That depends on what the question means. Obviously, different definitions of the question would require different approaches to an answer. Right off hand, I can think of at least three possible — though not necessarily mutually exclusive —…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 23, 2014
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American Culture

Phobophobia

In recent weeks and months, we have seen events that are not the event. The drama around these events is not the events themselves, but the anxiety about the events, and then even the anxiety about the anxiety about the events. That is the real event. The events in Ferguson,…

by Richard BledsoeDecember 22, 2014
anointing-david
Anointing

Ought We Anoint the Dying?

Anointing the sick, including the dying, is one of the traditional seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. The Reformers denied that the rite qualified as a sacrament. Formally, this was because anointing did not have a direct authorization from Jesus; more theologically, it was not one of the marks that…

by Peter LeithartDecember 18, 2014

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Jesus’ Masculinity in Matthew

The current issue of Semeia (#45) is devoted to “New Testament Masculinities,” and is a contribution to the growing academic study of masculinity. Jerome Neyrey has an interesting article here on Jesus’ masculinity in the gospel of Matthew. Two of his conclusions are particularly noteworthy: 1) “Matthew rarely locates [Jesus]…

December 18, 2003

Thoughts on the Renaissance

A couple of thoughts on the Renaissance, inspired by Spenser: First, Spenser’s emphasis on the proper use of the body (Book 2 of the Faerie Queene , the book of temperance) highlights the anti-Platonic thrust of Spenser’s viewpoint. That was, if Greenblatt is to be believed, a central thrust of…

December 17, 2003

Creation and Babel

There are a number of allusions to the original creation account in the account of Babel in Genesis 11. First, there is the general point that Yahweh is destroying what men have built ?Ea rebellious creation “decreated” by Yahweh. Second, the creation echoes are strengthened by Yahweh’s sarcastic “let us”…

December 16, 2003
Theology

Feminist Theology

Here’s a thesis to explore: The problems of feminist theology are intertwined with issues of sacramental theology and theological semiotics. If the SYMBOLISM of male and female is epiphenomenal, then feminist theology makes sense. If symbol and essence are co-determining, then feminist challenges to the Christian tradition are basically off-track.

December 16, 2003

Eucharistic Meditation, December 14

Eucharistic meditation for Third Sunday of Advent: Deuteronomy 12. During Israel’s wilderness wanderings, the tabernacle, Yahweh’s royal tent, was set in the middle of the Israelite camp, and was the place of worship and feasting. In the wilderness, an Israelite could not eat meat unless the animal had been slaughtered…

December 14, 2003
Theology

Exhortation, December 14

I want particularly to address our out-of-town college students this morning, though what I have to say has some application to everyone. So, don’t tune out. This coming week, most of you students will be returning home for the holidays, and as you return home you will be faced with…

December 14, 2003

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