Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
My first title for this series of posts was “Evangelical Sacramental Ecumenism” – not exactly a clickbait title. But those three words, evangelical, sacramental, and ecumenical, say a lot: The centrality of the gospel; a focus on baptism, bread, and wine; and the quest for visible unity among diverse churches.…
I can imagine someone reading the title of this essay and saying to himself, "I have two questions. First, what in the world is “contextualization”?" Second, even before hearing the answer to the first question, he may wonder, "what does baptism have to do with such an awkward and vague…
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 My colleague Ralph Smith has recently written on this passage, here . I entirely agree with Ralph's thrust, which is typological, that the passage is ultimately aimed at the entire nation of Israel itself as the rebellious son. But what I am thinking is from another perspective, perhaps…
In the previous article in this series, I drew attention to the threefold meaning of the Spirit of God descending as a dove on Jesus at His baptism. On a related note, I also argued that 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Titus 3:3-7 were parallel passages that addressed the same issues…
The National Anthem protest is misguided. So too the conservative backlash. The Church’s response has been disappointing. I address each in turn. The greatest triumph of the American Civil Rights Movement was its seizing of the moral high ground in American politics. It did so by insisting only on those…
Peter Leithart’s book, The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism , argues that baptism is parallel to and the fulfillment of the old covenant rite of priestly ordination. But this is not something explicitly stated in the New Testament. Why, then, should we believe it? Leithart shows in…
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A fter nine long chapters of names, genealogies, and snippets of narrative, the Chronicler plunges the reader into a scene of frantic action: Saul's battle with the Philistines on Mount Gilboa (1 Chronicles 10; cf. 1 Samuel 31). The story of Israel's monarchy starts out as a sad story of…
I ‘ll return to blogging next week, with changes. Since I started blogging more than a decade ago, I've used my blog as a public notebook to record quotations I want to remember, summarize articles I've come across in research, explore a problem or question, mainly in biblical studies or…
T aking a summer break. I will return to blogging in the latter part of July.
I n the Holy Place of the tabernacle, there was a table toward the north, spread with twelve loaves of “showbread” or “bread of the presence.” To the south was a golden lampstand, seven lamps making a burning tree. The Holy Place provided a glimpse of Israel's place and mission…
D omenico Losurdo's “counter-history” of Liberalism is a long riff on a central paradox: Many of the founding fathers of modern liberal thought were indifferent to, or even advocates of, slavery. John Calhoun is a prime example: “This eminent statesman, vice president of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century,…
Kevin Giles's The Eternal Generation of the Son targets Evangelical theologians who deny the Son's eternal generation. He also challenges Evangelical theologians who teach that the Son is “functionally” but not ontologically subordinate to the Father, or subordinate in “role” though not in being, or eternally under the authority of…
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