Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I mentioned last month ( BH 82) in my essay "Like a Dove" that Genesis 8 is a recapitulation of Genesis 1. Let me explicate that assertion here. Of course, the world after the Flood is a new creation, so we may expect a recapitulation of the first creation. It…
The book of Esther is one of the most neglected of the books of the Bible. To be sure, sermons are preached on it, and commentaries have occasionally been written on it, but almost without exception Esther has been interpreted in isolation from the rest of Biblical history, chronology, and…
Dear Mr. ______, . . . Here is how I look at the geocentricity question. Since I don’t recall what I wrote you before, I may be repeating some things. 1. The Bible does not teach it. Biblical passages used to support the idea are being misinterpreted. My original paper…
Answer 4 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is often taken as a magnificent answer to the question, "What is God?" It reads: "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." Presbyterians are fond of praising this statement, preaching on it,…
The gospels tell us that at Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him "in bodily form like a dove" (Luke 3:22 & parallels). Biblically sensitive commentators have associated this event with three Old Testament parallels: (1) the hovering of the Spirit over the creation in Genesis 1:2; (2) the…
This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. (John 8:6) The story of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53-8:11) has been part of the canonical Christian Bible from its earliest…
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When Yahweh returns to abandoned Zion, she breaks into song. He breaks into poetry (Isaiah 54). He describes Zion as a “woman forsaken and grieved in Spirit, a wife of youth refused” (v. 6). “Forsaken” translates ‘azuvah , and “grieved” translates ‘atzuvat , and the assonance in Hebrew continues, though…
Isaiah sees Zion as a grieving “widow” (Isaiah 54:4). But Yahweh is her husband. Yahweh must have died if she is left in her widowhood. Then he comes back as her ba’al (54:5), her lord and husband, making her a Lady, a be’ulah (54:1). This isn’t merely a separation and…
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Because of the Servant’s work (Isaiah 53), Zion is restored to her husband (54:4-5). That restoration is marked by the outbreak of song (54:1-3) but also by a series of negations. Verse 4 begins with three clauses that all begin with the Hebrew particle lo , “not”: Do not fear,…
This was first published at Credenda.org in March 2010. God is not mocked, Paul tells us. Matthew’s Passion narrative (Matthew 27:27-44), however, suggests otherwise. Matthew gives very little information about the physical sufferings of Jesus. We can imagine those sufferings from the details he records, but he directs our attention…
In a 2006 article, Israeli writer Eyal Weizman describes the Israeli military’s use of contemporary theory to revise military tactics. Weizman says that “the reading lists of contemporary military institutions include works from around 1968 (with a special emphasis on the writings of Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Guy Debord),…
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