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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The always-fascinating Oliver Sacks takes a break from his human patients to review several recent and old books on earthworms, jelly-fish, and plants in the NYRB . One is Daniel Chamovitz’s recent What A Plant Knows . Sacks writes, “We all distinguish between plants and animals. We understand that plants,…
John sees two signs in heaven (Revelation 12), a woman and a dragon. Sharply different as they are, John’s language brings out their similarities. 1) Both are called semeion , vv. 1, 3. 2) John uses the passive ophthe to introduce both, vv. 1, 3. 3) Both are signs in…
In Who’s Afraid of Relativism? , his recent brief for Christian pragmatism as a philosophy of contingency and creaturehood, James KA Smith summarizes a wonderful little analogy from Wittgenstein: “Language [is] a city. While referentialist theories of meaning might recognize that there could be other uses of language, they will…
Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics and Culture will show her latest documentary film, Breeders: A Subclass of Women? , at Beeson Divinity School, Birmingham, on the evening of Saturday, April 5. The event is co-sponsored by Trinity House and Beeson Divinity School. For more information, click here .
J.N. Adams takes up a classic question about the history of Latin in his Social Variation and the Latin Language : How did the Romance languages emerge from Latin? It’s been thought that the Romance languages came from changes in Latin pronunciation and grammar at the lower levels of Roman…
1 Samuel 14 records the second of Saul’s three falls: He sins when he sacrifices impetuously without waiting for Samuel (ch. 13), when he attacks Jonathan for eating during a battle (ch. 14), when he refuses to carry out the ban against the Amalekites (ch. 15). Chapter 14 is also…
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