Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
First John 5.16-17: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life–to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for…
A few years back I read Lesslie Newbigin’s little book Truth and Authority in Modernity . 1 I was particularly impressed with his argument in chapter 2 “The Mediation of Divine Authority.” Now, maybe this is old hat to many of you, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it…
Baptism is not Christian circumcision. There’s a lot of loose talk to that effect in Presbyterian circles; but it’s not accurate. The old world rite of circumcision was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism unites us to Christ and therefore makes us participate in the circumcision of…
In recent years I’ve observed a number of Reformed-type churches trying to institute corporate handraising in certain sung parts of worship. This often does not seem to work very well. Some people don’t do it. Some do it half-way. Some do it with one hand. Some dramatically stretch to the…
Most modern scholars recognize that behind Arius’s campaign to differentiate Jesus from God was the Hellenistic theological conviction that the high God cannot suffer. Rowan Williams argues that Arius had the right idea about divine suffering, but the wrong idea of God, which “puts the unavoidable question of what the…
Charismatics have been much maligned for constantly “praising the Lord.” They would say if you hit your finger with a hammer, you should instantly say, “Thank you Jesus that You let me hit my finger…” This of course, as we all know, is stupid. There was once a lady who…
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John (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3) and Jesus (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15) come preaching repentance. Over time, though, it becomes clear that the Jews are not repenting, and Jesus begins to denounce the cities that don't respond to His message of repentance (Matthew 11:20-21; 12:41; Luke 10:13; 11:32). Jesus' lurid predictions…
It was not uncommon in the early 19th century for blacks and whites to worship together. As Niebuhr observes, they “did not enjoy complete fellowship” and there was certainly not equality between them, yet “they participated in the same services and were members of the same denominations. . . .…
“Denominational pluralism, on the American plan,” wrote Will Herberg, “means thoroughgoing secularization” (36). By “secularization,” Herberg meant a gap between “conventional” and “operational” religion. Conventional religion is that practiced by religious adherents - Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists. Operational religion is the set of beliefs, rituals, and values that shapes…
After the third angel turns the rivers and springs to blood by pouring the passion of God into them, the “angel of the waters” praises the righteous judgment of God (Revelation 16:5-7). His speech of praise is chiastically arranged, with a modification: A. I heard the angel of waters saying…
Timothy L. Smith offers a vivid portrait of the “loneliness and danger,” as well as the fragmentation of traditional social networks, that the earliest American settlers had to face (contribution to Denominationalism , 50-1): “Gone was the material heritage of the European village - the cottages and garden plots, the…
H. Richard Niebuhr is altogether too much the sociologist. He displays the habit of peering past theological debates to the “roots” of conflict and division in the church, roots that always turn out to be fundamentally social roots. As Milbank stressed, this sort of sociology turns “society” into an explanatory…
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