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

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Biblical Horizons

An Older Essay on the Gospel Order

I thought it might be good to put this up here, since it is 14 years old, and itself reflects earlier discussion. From this you can see that we at BH have been considering this notion for quite some time. Clearly, the last word has not been said. — James…

by James B. JordanFebruary 14, 2008
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Biblical Horizons

Chiasms in James

Hopefully, my commentary on James will be out later this year. But here are a few chiasms for your consideration. I think the James 5 chiasm orginally came from Doug Jordan. The entire book of James is focused on how the pastors and leaders (“brothers”) of the church use their…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 14, 2008
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Job

Parables | (Part 2)

In my first post I noted that the parables of Jesus were not simply illustrative stories. They are really nothing like the kind of simple, homely illustrations that preachers often use to explain difficult concepts to their congregations. Just to be clear: there’s nothing wrong with illustrating one’s sermonic statements.…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 14, 2008
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Ephesians

The Praise Precedes the Indicative

Ephesians is often treated as a pure type example of the Pauline method that “the indicative preceds the imperative.” But what Paul does first is pray . Simply reading verse 3 and following involves readers in a prayer of thanksgiving to God–and much more so for those listening to the…

by Mark HorneFebruary 14, 2008
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Luke

"I Came Not to Call the Righteous, but Sinners"

Yesterday, I took part with my oldest son in a church-sponsored city outreach project (not because I’m especially prone to such behavior but because my son has a Boy Scout requirement that this would help him meet). Before we were sent out on our various jobs, the leader gave a…

by Mark HorneFebruary 11, 2008
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Biblical Studies

The Sequence of the Four Gospels

There is a scene in Prince Caspian , the second in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia that helps explain why it is we have four Gospels, that is four accounts of the Good News of Jesus Christ—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is the account of Lucy’s longed-for experience…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 9, 2008

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Heaven, Earth, Temple

In his contribution to The Reader Must Understand , Crispin Fletcher-Louis argues convincingly that “heaven and earth” in Jesus’ eschatological discourses doesn’t refer to “a collapse of the space-time universe . . . but as a collapse of a mythical space-time universe which is embodied in the Jerusalem temple” (162).…

March 24, 2014

Resting on nothing

God hangs the earth on nothing (Job 26:7). That’s literally true. There’s no changeless substance beneath the surface of change, nothing holding us up, making it all stable and safe. There’s nothing holding creation in place except God. Every effort to hang the world on something , every effort to…

March 24, 2014

Triune Dance?

A friend recently criticized the popular use of dance imagery to describe the perichoretic life of the Trinity. I laughed and played along. I’ve been in churches that have tried to enact the perichoretic dance, and, trust me, it ain’t inspiring. But then I want to say: Doesn’t that criticism…

March 24, 2014

Trinity House Registration

Registration is now open for the Pentecost term course at Trinity House, an introduction to liturgical theology taught by Pastor Jeffrey Meyers of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, St. Louis. For more information and registration, click here .

March 24, 2014

De Man’s Stylistics

Evelyn Barish’s The Double Life of Paul De Man has received mixed reviews. The NYTBR review cataloged minor errors to build a case against Barish’s reliability. Robert Alter’s review in The New Republic finds Barish’s case compelling. The case is moral and not merely intellectual. Alter writes that de Man…

March 24, 2014

Morning Star

Every morning Venus lights up in the sky before the sun rises - a speck of light before the sun. Jesus is the morning star (Revelation 22:16), who shines before the light of the Father is revealed. Jesus is the morning star that announces a day where there will be…

March 22, 2014

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