Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Who were the company of singers who sang in the Temple built by Solomon? I think many people might answer “the Levitical singers.” That is not correct, because the Levites were not allowed inside the Temple; only the priests were. The Levitical choir and orchestra performed for Yahweh outside the…
Dear Congregation, Social media is awash with rants for and against the ruling from the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) yesterday regarding homosexual marriage ( Obergefell v. Hodges ). My contribution on Facebook was simply to quote relevant sections of the dissents written by the four judges in the minority. Even though…
After the Civil War, the hobbled nation and fractured races looked about for leadership; animosity was high and envy was crouching at the door. Booker Taliaferro Washington, up from slavery, surveyed the rising tension and injustice, foreseeing civil unrest and chafing inequalities, eschewed, remarkably, a legislative remedy and advised a…
The ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges “came down” on Friday morning, June 26, 2015, like a bolt from Zeus. Many who refuse to bow to the dictates of our Olympians will write trenchant legal, theological, and cultural/political analyses of the court’s ruling. What I’m comfortable contributing to the historical record,…
Orthodox Christianity has lost all cultural potency in the U.S. No one defending traditional marriage before the court dared raise the fundamental question: Who creates marriage, God or the state? Theology has no public standing, no persuasive force in the culture at large. Obergefell is another nail in the coffin…
One will rarely come upon a classical allusion in a Robert Frost poem. His poetic scheme was to follow the speaking patterns of common folk, to use their words and images to achieve his point. Despite this simplicity, there is a depth and richness to his poetry that can be…
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Deuteronomy 7:13 gives a succinct summary of Yahweh’s promise to Israel. When Israel goes into the land, He will “love you and bless you and multiply you.” This triad appears to be a sequence: Yahweh loves, and therefore blesses; and blessing, as in the creation account, brings increase - He…
William Deresiewicz wants to preserve the stature of John Updike. In his TNR review of Adam Begley’s Updike , Deresiewicz contends that the current eclipse of Updike won’t last. For the moment, David Foster Wallace’s crack that Updike is a “penis with a thesaurus” will be the elite opinion, but…
Leonid Bershidsky isn’t impressed with the Apple Watch: “The Apple Watch isn’t a tech miracle. It requires a phone to work, creating an Occam’s-razor moment for the consumer: Do I need another device if I still have to carry my phone around with me everywhere? Samsung has overcome this by…
Neuroscientist Jeffrey Zacks says that filmmakers know a lot about how brains work, even if they couldn’t explain the science. After all, they’re able to get people to pay good money to watch light flickering on a screen, and they can get these people frightened, sad, jubilant in the space…
Fairy tales obviously have played an enormous role in folk culture over the centuries. Less well known perhaps is the role fairy tales have played in the intellectual life of the modern age, the age when we’ve given up belief in fairies. The collection compiled by the Brothers Grimm had…
Pastor Rich Lusk of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, suggests that the “leaven of their Pharisees” isn’t simply their teaching, but their entire vision of the coming kingdom. For the Pharisees, as Marcus Borg pointed out, the kingdom could come only if Israel pursued holiness by means of separation. At the…
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