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

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Biblical Studies

Biblical Allusion and the Meaning of Othello

Understanding Shakespeare’s Biblical references is vital for the interpretation of many, if not all, of Shakespeare’s plays. For Othello , it is especially important, not only because the interpretation of the play is contested among various approaches — feminist, homosexual, post-colonial, Marxist, Freudian, new historical, and others — but also…

by Ralph Allan SmithJune 16, 2017
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Ecclesiology

Attaining Unity: A Reply to Mike Allen

Mike Allen of Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, scores some points in his review of The End of Protestantism . He lodges the fair complaint that my rhetoric sometimes outruns my evidence. He argues that more stress on the present reality of the church’s unity deepens the tragedy of division; divisions…

by Peter LeithartJune 13, 2017
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Eschatology

Comic Trinity

I begin with two observations. First, on any millennial view, the Christian account of history is progressive, moving from the garden to the city. It is eschatological not only in that there is an end, but that the end is a glorified beginning, not merely a return to origins. To…

by Peter LeithartJune 8, 2017
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Ecclesiology

Political Church

The church is a new form of polity that erupts into the world as much as the Son of God comes into the world. It’s a real-world political alternative to the polities of the ancient world. It resolves many of the political dilemmas of the ancient world, though not simply…

by Peter LeithartJune 6, 2017
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Baptism

Baptism Impasse: Baptists vs. Presbyterians, (Part 2)

In my last post , I explained how Baptists really have a “one-ordinance-one sacrament” ecclesiology. I said this: “what Baptists really believe, in modern parlance, is that there is one ordinance (baptism which is a sign or symbol only) and one sacrament (the Lord’s Supper in which feeding upon Jesus…

by Mani MarprelateMay 30, 2017
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Political Theology

Obedience of Rulers

One of the most extensive and penetrating responses to the Yoder-Hauerwas attack on Constantiniansm is found in Oliver O’Donovan’s Desire of Nations , in a chapter entitled “The Obedience of Rulers.” O’Donovan defines the word “Christendom” as “a historical idea,” specifically “the idea of a professedly Christian secular political order,…

by Peter LeithartMay 30, 2017

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Trampling Blood

Hebrews 10:29 warns about those who tread underfoot the Son of God and count the blood of the covenant “wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing.” This clearly presents a problem for Owen’s argument for definite atonement in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ . If Christ…

April 22, 2013

Sheep and non-sheep

Engaging his opponents on the interpretation of John 3, Owen ( The Death of Death in the Death of Christ ) insists God’s love for the world is emphasized because God’s love in the new covenant is extending to “as they are poor, miserable, lost creatures in the world, of…

April 22, 2013

Faith’s Regress

In The Death of Death in the Death of Christ , John Owen argues that the benefits of redemption are purchased by Christ on the cross. They are not simply made possible, but actually acquired. And among these benefits of Christ is the gift of faith: “the effectual and infallible…

April 22, 2013

What Advantage the Jew?

Mark Horne’s sermon on Romans 3:1-8 is up at the Trinity House site this morning.

April 22, 2013

Eucharistic meditation

Luke 22:19: When Jesus had taken bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, Take, eat. This is my Body, which is given for you One of the central things I have taught over the last decade is that worship is the Lord’s service. It…

April 21, 2013

Baptismal meditation

Galatians 3: As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. I arrived in Moscow just after finishing a PhD dissertation on baptism. Shortly after we moved here, I was called as an expert witness in a Presbytery trial that centered on baptism. When I got home…

April 21, 2013

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