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

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Biblical Theology

Jesus in the Garden

Figure: Literary structure of the Garden narrative The Garden narrative describes God forming the adam , resting him in his presence, then provisioning for his appetites of food, vocation, and mate. It continues to describe a snake, the introduction of death, and humanity's expulsion from the garden. The pages of…

by Scott FairbanksJune 25, 2019
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Christology

St. Irenaeus, the Beatific Vision, and the Instrumentalization of Creation

I’ve spent the last few years studying the theology of St. Irenaeus (d. circ. 200ad). In particular, I’ve been gripped by the way that Irenaeus consistently resisted the anti-body emphasis that emerged in later Christian theology. His eschatology is remarkably focused on the resurrection of the body, and the renewal…

by Gerald HiestandJune 18, 2019
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Exodus

The Light Before the Switch

Details of Jesus in Exodus 1:22-2:25 Although there are a great many Christ-types in the Old Testament, it is hard to overplay the obviousness of some that seem to necessarily rise to the top before others. One of these is Isaac, with his near sacrifice by his own father after…

by Eric RobinsonJune 11, 2019
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Biblical Theology

Characteristics of the Wicked City

What can we say about Cain's wicked sanctuary-city of Enoch? First that it was built with a brother's blood as its cornerstone. The Church is also built such, for Jesus was the younger brother of the whole Adamic race, slain by that company of older brothers because they hated Him.…

by James B. JordanJune 4, 2019
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Biblical Theology

Trees and Thorns

In Genesis 2:9 the ground brought forth trees good for food, delightful to view, and in two cases, life-giving or rule-bestowing. Adam, made of the ground (2:7), would by implication bring forth new trees, and thus trees and plants are among the symbols for human beings throughout the Bible. The…

by James B. JordanMay 28, 2019
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Biblical Theology

Trees for Food

One of the must fundamental teachings of the Bible and of the Christian religion is that man does not have life in himself. Man must get life from outside of himself, in order to maintain his life. The way this is done is through eating and drinking. Apart from life,…

by James B. JordanMay 21, 2019

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Divine Feminine

V irginia Ramey Mollenkott is mistaken in her general conclusion to The Divine Feminine , recently reprinted by Wipf & Stock. She writes, “it is perfectly natural for the Bible to contain a vast predominance of masculine God-language, springing as it does out of a deeply patriarchal culture. . .…

January 30, 2015

Up and Down

John ascends to heaven at the bidding of a trumpet-voice (4:1); an angel ascends from the east with the seal of God in his hand (7:2); since and the prayers of the saints ascend to heaven from the censor (8:4); the two witnesses ascend to heaven (11:12, 2x). There are…

January 29, 2015

Practical Thomism

P eter Kreeft’s Practical Theology isn’t quite an introduction to Thomas’s Summa . It’s too repetitive, too selective, to be that. It functions better as an introduction to Thomas— a mystical, jolly Thomas not unlike Chesterton’s. Most of all, it’s just what Kreeft says it is, a tour through the…

January 29, 2015

Love Melts

One of the most profound passages from the Summa quoted in Peter Kreeft’s Practical Theology is this (p. 97), from ST I-II, 289, 5: “Four proximate effects may be ascribed to love, viz. melting, enjoyment, languor, and fervor. Of these, the first is melting , which is opposed to freezing.…

January 29, 2015
Ecclesiology

Visibility by the Spirit

In one of the essays in Word and Church , John Webster acknowledges that there is a danger of “spiritualizing” the church when the “asymmetry of divine and human action” is emphasized. He thinks the claim that Protestantism is pure subjectivism is a “caricature,” but the charge “identifies a potentially…

January 28, 2015

Catholics and Evangelicals

Gregg Allison is well-positioned to offer an “evangelical assessment” of Roman Catholic Theology & Practice . Now a professor of theology at South Baptist Theological Seminary, he spent a number of years as a Campus Crusade minister at Notre Dame, has interacted with clergy and lay Catholics over many years…

January 28, 2015

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