Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
We lost Crimea. That is very clear. Putin proved he was not lying when he said he would place women and children ahead of his soldiers to storm Ukrainian military bases. Russian soldiers did exactly that with women (some who volunteered and some who were forced). Russia now occupies all…
Sound is an indicator of life and energy. “Sound signals the present use of power, since sound must be in active production to exist at all.” Things don’t have to be alive to make themselves visible, and “a primitive hunter can see, feel, smell, and taste an elephant when the…
In the most famous section of his best-known novel, Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov brings forward his case against God. He opens with a horrific litany of outrages against children. Turkish soldiers make a baby laugh and then shoot a pistol into his face. A little girl is beaten, thrashed, kicked by…
At the heart of Esther Lightcap Meek's splendid Little Manual for Knowing is a concept she picked up from Michael Polanyi, "subsidiary-focal integration." The concept begins from the insight that all our knowing, all our experience, is double. We focus on something, but we are capable of "indwelling" that focal…
Jesus promises the overcomers of Pergamum "hidden manna" and a "white stone." The hidden manna is often linked with the manna stashed away in the ark of the covenant. The white stone has proved more elusive. Exodus tells us that manna was white (Exodus 16:31) and like bdellium (Numbers 11:7),…
Leviticus 23 begins with a reference to “Yahweh’s appointed times” ( mo’ade-YHWH ). Mo’ed is the common term for the feasts of Israel. A few dimensions to this term. First, it means “appointed time” or “designated time.” It is a time set by Yahweh. Yahweh has claimed certain times as…
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D.C. Schindler ( Communio , 2013, 600-1) argues that the Catholic appeal to subsidiarity isn't adequate on its own to meet the challenge of totalitarian liberalism. Subsidiarity assumes “a strong conception of what are referred to as ‘intermediate communities,' such as the family.” The problem that Schindler discerns is that…
Liberal polities claim to lack competency in religious matters, and so they leave them to private choice. It sounds modest. It isn't. If it were truly modest about its incompetency, it would seek guidance from the competent - that is, from religious organizations that can guide the state in deciding,…
A ll the rites of Israel’s sacrificial system move from outside in. When a priest offers a purification offering for himself or for all the people, he slaughters the animal in the courtyard before bringing its blood into the holy place (Leviticus 4). When the high priest performs the rites…
B eowulf revolves around three battles between the hero and threatening monsters—Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon. The central focus of the first two fights is Heorot, the mead-hall of Hrothgar, king of Denmark. The mead-hall is the focus of a complex of imagery. As in the Odyssey and Macbeth…
I n Matthew 4, the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and demands that he throw himself down, trusting His Father to send angels to keep Him from dashing His foot against a stone. Jesus replies by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the Lord your…
I n his commentary on Hebrews , William Lane disputes the common view that Hebrews 1:6 refers to the incarnation when it says that God brought the “firstborn into the world.” The Greek word behind “world” is oikoumene , which, Lane argues, typically refers to “habitable land, in contrast to…
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