Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Reformed theology has changed. And there seems to be no going back. It was in the year 1978 that a tectonic shift in the underlying structure of Reformed theology began with the publication of a small book. The changes were not only systematic, but also systemic—affecting all aspects of it.…
Since the term, “alt-right,” is being tossed about in the national media and is the subject of moral concern (or perhaps, moral panic), it might be good to identify what we’re talking about or at least admit the limitations of using nicknames to describe cultural shifts and voter behavior. Until…
Confession Confession belongs at the beginning of the liturgy. We enter into God’s house, invited for a meal, and we need to clean up before we do that. Cleansing was a requirement for the priests of the OT before they entered the sanctuary to minister (Exodus 30:17-21). When Yahweh appeared…
“And God made the two great lights; the greater light for the dominion of the day, and the lesser light for the dominion of the night; the stars also.” (Genesis 1:16, NASV) In Judges 5, verse 31, the prophetess Deborah prays, "let those who love Him be like the rising…
In part 1 of this article we saw how various attempts to identify the underlying structure of Gen. 22:1-19 fell short and proposed a new structure for the passage. In part 2, we will look at how the sections of the chiasm relate and draw some conclusions from our investigation.…
Chiastic structures abound in the book of Genesis. For example, the Flood narrative is one long chiasm, as is the life of Abraham. It is the contention of this brief study that Gen. 22:1-19, also known as the Aqedah, is another such passage. And this structure reveals a talented author…
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The sea beast wages war against the saints (Revelation 13:7), assisted by the land beast (13:11-15), also known as the “false prophet” (16:13; 19:20; 20:10). That the land beast is a prophet gives us a big clue to what’s happening. Prophets end and initiate covenants; prophets are the sacred architects…
In the Levitical law, the priests received two particular portions of each peace offering: the “wave offering” of the breast and the “heave offering” (or better, “contribution”) of the right thigh. The purpose of this essay is to attempt to determine the reason why the second of these, the thigh,…
Robert Pogue Harrison glances at his father’s college yearbook and finds that “twelve-year-old boys looked like little adults, their faces furrowed by the depths of time” ( Juvenescence , x). We’re younger now: “the first-world face of today remains callow, even as it withers away with age, never attaining the…
Neoteny comes from two Greek words, “new” and “hold.” As Robert Pogue Harrison defines it ( Juvenescence , 18), evolutionary biology speaks of neoteny as the “persistence of fetal, larval, or juvenile features in adult organisms.” Harrison means something more broader, “a modified type of development that brings juvenile traits…
John’s description of the land beast and his work in Revelation 13:11-15 is organized in a fairly neat chiasm: A. Another beast like a lamb, speaking as a dragon, 13:11 B. He has the authority of the first beast, 13:12a C. He makes land-dwellers worship the first beast, who was…
Robert McAfee Brown summarizes The Spirit of Protestantism as “an openness to the judging and renewing activity of the living God made known in Jesus Christ.” It’s a willingness to “submit to the corrective activity of God,” and “to live at risk.” Protestantism claims that it’s only in “constant renewal…
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