Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The idea of atonement is not a distinctly Christian, or even Hebraic, concept. It also makes an appearance in ancient Greek thought (among other places). The Greek tradition is by no means monolithic, so it isn’t possible to speak of a “Greek” concept of atonement. But there are certain commonalities…
As we know, there are seven deadly or capital sins. Prior to the list of the seven deadly sins there was a list of eight evil thoughts or demons. It was made by an Eastern monk, Evagrius Ponticus. When the list was transposed to the West, one evil thought was…
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is one of those epistles in Scripture to which pastors and teachers resort to show the church everything that it shouldn’t be . There is, of course, good reason for this. The Corinthian church was filled with all sorts of problems. Personality cults (i.e., factions),…
Today is Ash Wednesday , and as many Christians of the Protestant formerly "low church" persuasion are reacquiring some of the good and ancient practices of the church, one question in particular comes to the front: to ash or not to ash? That is, while many of us are finding…
A murder of tweets. To observe Lent rightly, we have to be persuaded that we already stand in God’s favor. Ash Wednesday reminds us to number our days. It helps us gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). We keep Easter to manifest and deepen our prior share in resurrection.…
Dale C. Allison, Jr., The New Moses: A Matthean Typology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993). Dale Allison 1993 book is a superb case study in the New Testament's use of the Old. Though he focuses on only a single typology (Christ as a new Moses) in only a single gospel (Matthew), Allison's…
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Amos Funkenstein observes ( Perceptions of Jewish History , 11-12) that “To ancient or primitive societies, in which antiquity or a long pedigree makes for a true aristocracy, youth is a sign of inferiority, and a memory of youth calls for compensatory elements, all the more so if this memory…
Unclean spirits are conspicuous by their absence in the Old Testament, but the one direct reference gives us a clue to their activities. The Lord promises to open a fountain to cleanse the house of David and the city of Jerusalem, and adds “I will also remove the prophets and…
In a classic essay on the defiling force of sin in Studies in Sin and Atonement (258-9), A. Buchler observes that David asks twice for Yahweh to wash Him in Psalm 51 (vv. 4, 9). The reason has to do with the ritual background to David’s plea for cleansing. When…
In his excellent contribution to The Second Vatican Council , Paul Murray makes a crucial distinction between ecumenical optimism and Christian hope. Optimism, he argues, is “reality-denial,” an assurance that “things are not really bad as they might seem and will all inevitably work out well,” while hope “takes reality…
Tim Nichols describes local ecumenism in Englewood, Colorado, at the Trinity House site .
The prophets promise that a new David will arise to reign over a united kingdom. Judah and Israel will be bound back together under a single king. That sounds like a prophetic extension of David’s story, but in fact it’s something more like a simple repetition. David was first anointed…
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