Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In my last essay, we saw how consumer culture has gutted the familial category necessary to understand the church. When a consumer visits a church, he expects another service-provider, such as a hospital or a restaurant. He doesn’t understand the role of men in ministry, and thus, not the role…
First time visitors to our church sometimes express their surprise that children, even the youngest, participate with their parents in the entire worship service. Many congregations created an expectation for the parents (and children) of Sunday School or Child Care being available during the entire worship service or during the…
Quantifying the Love of God “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ~ John 3:16 This most beloved verse in all the Bible was spoken by the Savior himself to Nicodemus. As…
While The Lord’s Prayer enjoys wide recognition throughout the Church, its richness and depth may be unrealized due to a lesser familiarity with, what I will argue is, its primary inspiration: the Tabernacle. There, Christ’s intent can rightly be discerned. The Prayer’s methodological correction to the Jews and Gentiles wasn’t…
The Consumption of the Covenant Idea of the Church Last time we saw consumerism, having canalized its attitudes in our culture, shapes what the consumer sees when he or she steps into a church. Here, we’ll see how it has eviscerated the covenant and familial ideas necessary to understand the…
The ignoble Jayber Crow can stir your appetite for the noble. It’s the simplicity of a good ol’ Port William boy that builds the charm of the book. In fact, the elitists in Port William receive the harshest blows and severest outcomes, as they should. But before delving into the…
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One chapter of Emmanuel Katongole's A Future for Africa is a critique of the Ugandan Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (MRTCG). He argues that the movement has a “tendency toward isolation,” fails “to reimagine the nature of Christian leadership,” and exhibits a “lack of hope”…
Tim Flannery's NYRB review of Paul Falkowski's Life's Engines and Peter Ward and Joe Kirschvink's A New History of Life sums up the authors' points: “our cells are comprised of a series of highly sophisticated ‘little engines' or nanomachines that carry out life’s vital functions.” These microscopic machines all work…
The fall of Babylon brings an end to the sounds and sights of urban life. In particular it means the end of music (Revelation 18:22). Music once spread to the four corners of the city; when she is tossed into the cease, all four orchestra sections cease - harpists, musicians,…
The verb “bind” (Greek, deo ) is used four times in John's gospel. The uses form a little chiasm: A. Lazarus emerges from the grave bound with grave clothes, 11:44. B. The Romans arrest and bind Jesus, 18:12. B'. Anna sends Jesus, still bound, to Caiaphas, 18:24. A'. Jesus is…
Those who share in the first resurrection are not under the authority of the second death (Revelation 20:6). We know what the first resurrection is. John has just told us: Beheaded martyrs and those who resist the beast come to life and reign with Christ. “ This is the first…
In his A Future for Africa , Emmanuel Katongole offers this brief analysis of the roots of racism. He argues that it is a specifically modern phenomenon, and that it is entrenched in “the story of the modern self, particularly the constant anxiety at the heart of the modern project.”…
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