Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Click HERE for part 1. III This leads to a further question. I have argued that silence cannot by itself establish a Scriptural principle, but does Scripture’s silence carry any weight in itself? Does the fact that something is unbiblical in a weak sense tell us anything at all? In…
Although nowadays gap theories are associated with dispensationalism, it was not always so. In the nineteenth century, scholars from a variety of backgrounds (Anglican, Reformed, and proto-fundamentalist) seem to have become fascinated by gaps. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, this newsletter will acquaint you…
If the debate over Operation Rescue has proven anything, it has proven that there is absolutely no consensus among evangelicals in general, or among "reconstructionists" in particular, about how to use the Bible to judge political actions and movements. Each side of the debate claims biblical authority for its position,…
Two things I asked of Thee, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and words of falsehood far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches, Feed me with the food that it my portion, Lest I be full and deny Thee, And say, "Who is the LORD?"…
Umberto Eco’s "The Name of the Rose" was certainly one of the best literary works of the past decade, though the film version hardly measured up to it. Now Eco has given us a new novel, "Foucault’s Pendulum." Like Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum reflects on the limitations of human knowledge, and…
From time to time people ask me about "interpretive maximalism." They want to know what it is, and sometimes want to know if it represents some departure from the Reformed grammatico-historical, Biblico-theological approach to the Bible. I have something of a problem with these questions, because "interpretive maximalism" is not…
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FS Naiden ends his Smoke Signals for the Gods with a fascinating discussion of the contrast between Greek and Hebrew conceptions of God (323-4) Greek gods were watchers of sacrifices, watchers of humans “as if attending a play” (322). They passed judgments, but the judgments were never permanent. They were…
CE Douglas points out ( Last Word in Prophecy , 134-5) that Greeks as much as Hebrews were obsessed with sevens: “There were seven wonders of the world, seven sages, seven metals, seven tones and so on. Thebes, the city of the Phoenician Cadmus who taught the Greeks their letters,…
When Shadrach, Meschach and Abed-nego emerge from the furnace unscathed, Nebuchadnezzar praises their God, whose angel saved the men from the fire. The three men “put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve any god except their own God”…
F.S. Naiden’s Smoke Signals for the Gods is a landmark study of Greek sacrifice. Naiden’s main opponents are Walter Burkert ( Homo Necans ), who views sacrifice psychologically as an act of sublimated violence, and Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant, whose Cuisine of Sacrifice Among the Greeks replaces Burkert’s “Teutonic…
Saul’s three sins in 1 Samuel 13-15 correspond to the sins of Adam, Cain, and the sons of God. Like Adam, he sins with regard to worship; like Cain, he attacks his fellow Israelites; like the sons of God, he makes an alliance with an enemy. At each point, of…
Felicity Morse is the self-appointed Grinch of Valentine’s day : “Walk into any shop and you’re practically attacked by romance. Angry red hearts dangle threateningly from ceiling tiles, cushions shouting LOVE are scattered accusingly across displays, and judgmental teddies guard stands like scornful sentinels. It’s not just in gift shops…
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