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

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Baptism

Jesus' Baptism: The Fount of Life

A Study in Biblical and Practical Theology Sunday School Notes / Epiphany 2004 Introductory Note: January 6 is Epiphany in the traditional church calendar. Though Epiphany is often treated as a single day, with the Sundays following counted as “Sundays after Epiphany,” we will treat Epiphany as an extended season.…

by Rich LuskJune 1, 2004
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Baptism

Baptism, Symbols, and Faith

Imagine someone from another world trying to learn to live in our society according to our customs. What if someone gave him a check for a hundred dollars for his birthday–the first check he had ever seen in his life? Would he immediately understand how a check was used? Perhaps…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Baptism

Admission into the Church: Biblical Theology & Baptism

According to Presbyterian doctrine, as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith, baptism is a baptized person’s “admission… into the visible church.” By referring to the “visible church,” the document makes clear it is referring to the present institutional Church with all her imperfections, as opposed to the future Church…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Covenant

Some thoughts on NT Wright, Righteousness & Covenant Status

N. T. Wright claims that in the Apostle Paul’s writings “righteousness,” as it predicated of humans, denotes “covenant membership.” When he wrote this in the New Bible Dictionary edited by Sinclair Ferguson, J. I. Packer, and David Wright, no one thought this was too big a deal. However, when he…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Theologia

The God of Grace

It seems almost human nature to think that we can find something to do for God that will make Him do us favors. If we live more virtuously, or cut down on a vice or two, then God will have to reward us. But the problem with this notion is…

by Mark HorneMay 24, 2004
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Justification

The Moral Law Commands Faith in Christ Alone

The First Commandment teaches us to trust in Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. The First Commandment reads (I’m using NASB throughout): “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Obviously, trusting in someone or something else (even one’s own good works) for justification, sanctification, and eternal life”…

by Mark HorneMay 22, 2004

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Greek Types

From the earliest times, Christians have offered typological interpretations of ancient myths. According to Marie Cabaud Meaney ( Simone Weil's Apologetic Use of Literature ), Weil revives this tradition in a new intellectual milieu: "Weil uses Christology as the hermeneutic key to these mythological texts at a time when people…

October 6, 2017
Empire

The Inevitability of Empire

"All political power," write John Milbank and Adrian Pabst ( Politics of Virtue , 332-3), "tends to become imperial." They see three reasons for this: "either to stabilise volatile 'backyards' (e.g. the United States in Central and Latin America; China in the South Chinese Sea; Turkey and Russia in the…

October 6, 2017
American Politics

Here Comes the Judge

Judge Roy Moore isn't cool. The recently chosen GOP candidate for the US Senate from Alabama flashes pistols at his rallies. He wears a cowboy hat and rode a horse to the polling booth on election day. He says nutty things, channeling wild, half-remembered rumors from the rightwing deep web.…

October 5, 2017

Diseases of Speech

One driving interest behind Rosenstock-Huessy's grammatical method is hissuggestion that speech the means for integrating the demands of the Cross of Reality, and for meeting the crises that arise at each pole of the Cross. Rosenstock-Huessy wants to rescue grammar from the grammarians, and restore grammar and language to their…

October 5, 2017

Grammatical Sociology

Speech arises, Rosenstock-Huessy claims, from shock. The beauty of the world, the “it” outside us, shocks us with amazement, and loosens our tongues. A command from another confronts us and forces us to say Yes or No in response. Suffering evokes the cry of the “I.” If we confront beauty,…

October 4, 2017

Israel In Rebellion

2 Chronicles 10 is a fall story. The Chronicler's long account of the reigns of David and Solomon (1 Chronicles 11-2 Chronicles 9) has portrayed an ideal. David and Solomon form a joint new-Adam, overseeing the Levites who stand to serve in the garden-temple, guarding Yahweh's bride, Israel. William Johnstone…

October 3, 2017

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