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

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Family

Childbearing as Liminal Space

Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (1 Timothy 2:15) Years ago, the wife of a prominent American theologian recognized that even in Christian circles mothers were under a kind of social pressure to justify the worthwhileness of their…

by Garrett SoucyMarch 24, 2020
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Motherhood

Parenting through Coronavirus

I caught my five year old washing his hands again. He had already washed them several times that hour, so I asked him if he was okay. He told me he didn’t want to get “the virus”. That was before I had told him anything about coronavirus, but we did…

by Lindsey TollefsonMarch 20, 2020
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Discipleship

Take a Walk

Very early in life, I developed the habit of walking and thinking and meditating. I came from a rather strict home, and the only way I could get out of the house at night was to walk the dog. So, I did. I would walk the dog for miles and…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 17, 2020
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Coronavirus

Disease, Deprecations, and Deliverance in an Age of Safe Spaces | Reflections from a University President

From lightning and tempest; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death, Good Lord, deliver us. The Fourth Deprecation from Thomas Cranmer's 1544 Litany 1 A deprecation, such as that above, is a prayer to be spared from disaster, its Latin root deprecari meaning to…

by Alexander WhitakerMarch 16, 2020
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Biblical Studies

The Son of Man in the Clouds | Part 2

In the previous essay in this series, we saw that Jesus’ words about coming on the clouds were spoken on more than one occasion, first to the disciples on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:30; Mark 11:36; Luke 21:27), then, a few days later, to the high priest and Jewish…

by Ralph Allan SmithMarch 10, 2020
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Epistemology

Voice and God’s Relational Biology

The following is excerpted from an essay first published at Church Life Journal . We are grateful to the editors for permission to repost here. The word “science” at its root means “to know” and the word “theology” at its root means “to think about God.” Can we know anything…

by Kristin M. Collier MDMarch 5, 2020

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Sacred Sociology

Sociologists want to present themselves as objective scientists of the social order, but when Christian Smith looks at his disciple he doesn’t see science. He sees the Sacred Project of American Sociology , sociology constituted as a project that he is even willing to describe as “spiritual.” He applies a…

November 10, 2014

Why Wait?

When the sixth trumpet sounds, a voice commands the trumpet angel to let the four angels at the corners of the land go (Revelation 9:13-14). The following lines are a neatly parallel command-and-response. First the command: a. Loose b. the four angels c. who are bound d. at the river,…

November 7, 2014

The Weakness of Flesh

Paul’s use of the notion of “flesh” has long been puzzling. He is no gnostic, but he seems to have a hostility to “flesh.” His condemnation is so strong that some translations have sidestepped the problem by glossing sarx (flesh) as “sinful nature.” It’s a bad translation, and bad theology.…

November 7, 2014

Fertility and Productivity

A recent report on research by the Federal Reserve of St Louis found that “Over the course of a 30-year career, mothers outperformed women without children at almost every stage of the game. In fact, mothers with at least two kids were the most productive of all.” The results were…

November 7, 2014

A Strong Angel

John sees the glorified Jesus at the beginning of Revelation, and described his clothing and then his figure in some detail. Jesus commissions him to write. In chapter 10, a similar figure appears holding a book, and instructs John to eat then then to prophesy. Though the figure descending from…

November 7, 2014

Structure in Revelation 9, again

John sees two scenes in Revelation 9: A swarm of macabre cherubim arises from the abyss, and then four angels are permitted to release a massive army from the Euphrates. Both armies are described in some detail, and the organization of the descriptions are intricately structured. This post furthers some…

November 6, 2014

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