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Writing

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

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Apologetics

Do I Have to go to Church?

Imagine driving up to Canada and stopping at a restaurant to get a bite to eat. While you’re sitting at the table, an enthusiastic young man comes over to you and says in an excited voice, "Are you an American?" You reply, "Yes, I am." "Wonderful! I have so little…

by Mark HorneNovember 15, 1999
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Biblical Horizons

The Prayer of Manasseh

1 O Lord Almighty, God of our fathers, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous posterity; 2 You who have made heaven and earth with all their order; 3 who have shackled the sea by Your word ofcommand, who have confined the deep and sealed it with…

by James B. JordanOctober 4, 1999
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Biblical Horizons

The Apocrypha: Bel and the Dragon

Part 1: 1When King Astyages was laid with his fathers, Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom. 2 And Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of his friends. 3Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they spent on it twelve bushels…

by James B. JordanOctober 4, 1999
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Church Government

Ministers and Ruling Elders Do Not Occupy the Same Office

This debate has been going on for some time. But with few exceptions, almost all explanations of Presbyterian church polity claim that a “church” (meaning a single local congregation) must be ruled by “a plurality of elders” of whom one may happen to teach and work full-time doing so. This…

by Mark HorneSeptember 2, 1999
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Biblical Horizons

The Apocrypha

I hope that those who are advocating reading more of the ancient, "classical" literature of the ancient, "classical" world, are also promoting the Apocrypha. I’m afraid that many Christians don’t realize what great literature much of the Apocrypha is. It is not, of course, inspired by God, and perhaps because…

by James B. JordanAugust 4, 1999
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Church Government

What is Presbyterianism?

PRESBYTERIANISM is a term referring to a system of government in the Church. It is commonly contrasted with Congregationalism and Episcopalianism. Presbyter is a Greek word that is translated as “elder” in our English New Testaments. Thus, Presbyterianism is commonly defined as “rule by elders.” This is a misleading definition.…

by Mark HorneJune 5, 1999

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Philosophy

Heidegger and the gift

Marion works from both Husserl and Heidegger, and we’ll focus on the latter, as he is slightly easier to grasp. (I am summarizing Robyn Horner’s discussion.) Heidegger begins from Husserl, but seeks to go beyond him. Husserl’s phenomenology was an effort, Heidegger says, to “let that which shows itself be…

November 28, 2007

Sermon Notes, First Advent

INTRODUCTION Isaiah is the great prophet of the incarnation, but Isaiah is a bit too large to cover during the four weeks of Advent. Micah, though, prophesied at the same time as Isaiah (Micah 1:1; Isaiah 1:1), and the prophecies overlap (Micah 4:1-3; Isaiah 2:1-4) and Micah includes a major…

November 26, 2007

Eucharistic meditation

Psalm 128:5-6: The LORD bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel. We saw in the sermon this morning that the man who fears Yahweh can hope for…

November 25, 2007
Theology

Exhortation

As soon as Adam sins, his marriage is disrupted, as he becomes Eve’s accuser instead of her guardian. In the next generation, sibling rivalry escalates to the first murder. The family is a fallen institution. It cannot redeem. It needs to be redeemed. The story continues throughout the Old Testament.…

November 25, 2007
Literature

Meta-Theater

During one scene of King Lear, Edgar, disguised as Mad Tom, leads his father, Gloucester to the cliffs of Dover, where his father intends to throw himself down to his death. Only Edgar doesn’t go to Dover. He tells his father that he has reached Dover, and Gloucester ceremoniously throws…

November 24, 2007
History

Stoic and Christian

For the Stoics, as for most ancient philosophers who reflected on signs, signs were examined as part of a theory of inference. A sign was a symptom, and the medical usage is often overt in examples; or a sign is a premise of an argument, from which something unknown can…

November 24, 2007

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