Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
It seems to be old news, but I was unaware of it until recently. Australian academics argued that mothers should be allowed to terminate the life of a newborn child. [i] Why would they promote such an idea? Because before the child is born it is not always possible to…
This is the second of two essays introducing Pascal’s Wager. Click HERE for Part 1. In “The Pop Star and the Mathematician” I gave an overview of the apologetic approach commonly called Pascal’s Wager. In that Wager, 17 th -century French mathematician Blaise Pascal argued that the choice between Christian…
This is the first of two essays aiming to introduce the reader to Pascal’s Wager. The second will address criticisms of the Wager. In the early 1990s, a perennially popular British pop star was interviewed on British television about his very public evangelical Christian faith. “What if,” the reporter asked…
Matthew 13 is about secrets. In this chapter, Jesus teaches eight parables and tells the disciples that they reveal the secrets of the kingdom (13:11). And much like Samson who both tells riddles and is himself a riddle that the reader must solve, so Jesus not only tells secrets but…
Click HERE for part One. THE TEXT AS TABERNACLE Creation – Initiation – Genesis (1 Samuel 17:1-11) The gathered armies not only remind the reader of Ebal and Gerizim, but also of the very reason that Israel was established (Creation) , set apart from the other nations by the circumcision…
What to do with Job’s Final “Friend,” Elihu Elihu is a strange character, at least in the sense of how and where he appears in the book of Job. Why does he not appear with the other three “friends?” Does his argument differ from any of the first three who…
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Eran Shalev ( American Zion ) puts the Scriptural debate over slavery in the context of a shift from a predominantly Old Testament orientation to a predominantly New Testament one. But the lines were not as neat as one might think: Anti-slavery writers drew on Old Testament laws on slavery,…
During the discussion at Biola Tuesday evening, Carl Trueman expressed the worry that Reformational Catholicism was at odds with the word-centeredness of the Reformation. This post is intended as reassurance. First a bit of apologia pro vita mea , and for mea friends, inevitably mixed with a dash of Barnumesque…
It’s common - and correct - to say that “eternal life” doesn’t just refer to the duration of life. It refers to a quality of life. But we ought not to skip past the duration issue too rapidly. Duration affects quality. Knowing that we are heading toward death changes the…
While David is fleeing from Saul, he spends time near Carmel, guarding and assisting the shepherds of the wealthy Nabal. When he asks Nabal to let his men participate in the sheep-shearing festivities, Nabal rebuffs him, and David gets ready to attack Nabal’s house (1 Samuel 25). Fortunately, Nabal has…
Jesus called people to eat his flesh and drink His blood (John 6). It scandalized His hearers and led to accusations of cannibalism. Christian mystics have spoken of sacramental communion with erotic overtones, using the love-feast of the Song of Songs as a paradigm. Brannon Hancock thinks that much Christian…
Barth famously condemned infant baptism as a wound in the body of Christ, and that resounding Nein has been taken as a natural application of Barth’s theology as a whole. Some have seen it as a stark choice: Barth or infant baptism. W. Travis McMaken thinks there’s more to say,…
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