Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Every advent of new media creates the justifiable reaction from some that the necessarily accompanied amputation may not be worth the extension made possible by the new tools. This is not unique to the Digital Age. Lamoignon Malesherbes, the French politician who was counsel for the defense of Louis XVI,…
A response to Gage Crowder's " The Hole in our Hope ?" Already, the first pages of the Bible promise a bright future. The story starts with the creation of heaven and earth, where heaven is perfect, but the earth is in a state of formless emptiness. Yet, God takes…
A rejoinder to Bubu Jarmulak's essay, " Embrace Pessimism ." Whereas calumnious critiques are reflections of more on the critic than the work criticized, good critiques are always opportunities for reassessment and improvement if they are received as such . Since its renaissance, the biblical doctrine of postmillennialism—or “optimistic eschatology,”…
Several decades ago, a pastor (and friend) mentioned in passing at one of our regular breakfasts together that he wasn’t satisfied with the usual reading of Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane, the usual reading being that Jesus asked the Father to avoid the Cross at Gethsemane. We turned to the passage,…
On May 21, 1604, the cathedral of Toledo in Spain held job interviews for the post of choirmaster, the head of music at the church. The position had been vacated when the previous occupant, Alonso Lobo, was poached by the nearby cathedral of Seville, and Toledo needed a replacement who…
Imagine — counterfactually: on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus held up an empty hand and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant poured out for you. Drink of it.’ But there was no cup, no wine, nothing. If there’s no sign of the covenant, is there…
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Two recent pieces highlight neglected dimensions of corporate and upscale welfare, already wealthy people making large amounts of money from the tax dollars of ordinary people. At Slate , Krissy Clark asks the obvious question of who ultimately benefits from food stamp programs. The program feeds poor kids and families,…
Mummies don’t go to waste, Ana Ruiz tells us in The Spirit of Ancient Egypt : “By the 11th century, Egyptian mummies were being ground into powder and sold as Mummia Vera ; this was marketed as an aphrodisiac and a medicine. The great Persian physician Avicenna prescribed Mummia for…
Ana Ruiz gives a detailed summary of the variety of sevens in ancient Egyptian religion and culture ( The Spirit of Ancient Egypt ). There were seven major deities, seven astral powers, seven planets, seven metals (gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, tin, lead) ruled by the planets. Spells used the…
Averil Cameron’s Byzantine Matters is not the popular introduction to Byzantium that it’s small page count (115 text) and pocket size might lead one to expect. It’s more a review of the literature on Byzantium, particularly from English-writing scholars, among whom Byzantium is still known mainly by its absence. Cameron…
I’m always behind the trends, so I probably don’t have to worry. But if you are among the dozen or so people who haven’t yet seen HBO’s atmospheric True Detective , spoilers follow. The climactic struggle with the serial murderer takes place in a cavernous, horrifying graveyard of children, which…
Jesus describes His death as His glorification/exaltation. Elevated on the cross, it’s as if Jesus had taken the throne to pass judgment on this world and to cast out the ruler of this world (John 12:31). John’s narrative prepares the way for this declaration. In chapter 11, Jesus raises Lazarus…
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