Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I grew up on the north side of Chicago. My parents were evangelicals and I was raised in the faith. I graduated from a large public high school in which practicing Christians were very few and very far between (though nominal Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox were in abundance), which…
During the recent round table discussion on the future of Protestantism , Peter Leithart advocated a much greater degree of unity in the Church than we presently enjoy. Another participant in the discussion wondered aloud how Leithart's vision would be different from the ministerial associations that presently exist in many…
"But he, wanting to justify himself, said, 'And who is my neighbor?' And Jesus said to him, 'First, your neighbors are the people in your church, then the ones with whom you enjoy greatest doctrinal or ecclesiastical commonality, then those with whom you enjoy less commonality.'" -Said Jesus... never Since…
A number of years ago, I came across something in the Puritan Thomas Goodwin in regard to John 17:22. Goodwin points out that Jesus prays that they (the disciples) might be given the glory of the Father as a means to an end. The end is unity, and the means…
In her prize-winning book, Gilead , Marilynne Robinson uses the pastoral settings of Iowa to challenge ministers to live up to their high callings. One of the most powerful themes in the novel is the pastor’s power to “bless.” The tension in the novel builds as we watch Rev. Ames…
One of the few glaring errors of the Protestant Reformers was the failure to welcome children back to the Lord's Table. Something that seems to go along with this was the exclusion of other kinds of Christians, primarily Roman Catholics, from Holy Communion in Protestant churches. Exclusion of Roman Catholics…
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A s a techno-lagger, I came late to the smart phone world. Every sentient adult who has used a phone over the past decade saw everything I’m seeing long ago. Still, it might be worth putting it to writing. Smart phones and other sorts of communication devices have of course…
In his commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Romans (60-1), Peter Stuhlmacher argues that Paul’s use of hilasterion in Romans 3:25 refers not to a “propitiation” but to a “place” of atonement. The import is that Jesus’ death radically alters the terrain of atonement. Stuhlmacher writes that through Christ’s redemption…
In his essay in The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology , Nehemia Polen explores what light the letter to Hebrews throws on the purposes and rituals of Leviticus. Contrary to many popular understanding, the focus of Leviticus is not forgiveness, but rather has to do with the maintenance…
Emil Brunner acknowledges that “The message of the Cross is the central mystery of the scriptural Gospel.” In his view, it “is not the task of theology to explain these mysteries: for if explanation were possible these mysteries would only be fortuitous mysteries, and thus not real and divine.” But…
PT Forsyth responds to the charge that the church is slow to accomplish her mission because of her unfaithfulness with this neat inversion ( Work of Christ , 21): “Do you really find that the deeper you get into Christ and the meaning of His demands Christianity spreads faster in…
Teju Cole pays tribute to Krzysztof Kie?lowski’s 1996 film Red in the December 22 issue of The New Yorker . The film tells a small, quiet tale, a film of “hushed intensity” and conveys “the sense of inner workings not fully grasped.” A woman in Geneva, Valentine, runs over a…
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