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Writing

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

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Biblical Studies

Levels of Language

A couple years ago, I read Paul Graham’s ruminations on higher- and lower-level languages in Hackers and Painters . Although he’s talking about computer languages, his insights have bearing on biblical language and hermeneutics. So bear with me while I lay out some of the basic points, and then we’ll…

by Tim NicholsAugust 7, 2018
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Ecclesiology

The Church at the Center

Toward the end of the Revelation, John sees a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. The old created order in Adam has passed away, and the new order under the lordship of Jesus has been established. Within this new creation John also sees “the holy city, the…

by Bill SmithAugust 3, 2018
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Epistemology

Seeking Integration in a Fragmented World: D.C. Schindler: Integrative Metaphysics

I have been talking with you about integration—an elusive, allusive, word, pregnant with something we long for. I have suggested that what might be rightly a natural longing has been exacerbated by our own modern Western milieu’s dominating devotion to bits and bytes, a prevailing sense of fragmentation. Fragmentation is…

by Esther Lightcap MeekJuly 31, 2018
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Art

The Stone Upon the Well

Sunday morning found me kneeling at the foot of my bed, trembling, pebbles of sweat leaping off the edge of my brow and nose, and hitting the floor in front of me, but not from piety was I procumbent; though as a minister for over a decade, I had made…

by Remy WilkinsJuly 26, 2018
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Immigration

Counseling, Immigration, and the Politics of the Gospel

In April of this year, President Trump issued a zero-tolerance border policy that separated families, specifically children from their parents who had crossed the USA/Mexico border be it illegally or as asylum seekers . In mid-June, Trump dropped this policy of splitting up families, however there are still children who…

by Michael SpalioneJuly 24, 2018
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Biblical Studies

Joseph, the Righteous Husband

During the Middle Ages, Joseph, the husband of Mary, was the butt of many jokes. Medieval theater and art often depicted him as something of a buffoon, decidedly marginal to the gospel story. In part, this was the unfortunate obverse of the exaltation of Mary; any man would suffer by…

by Peter LeithartJuly 19, 2018

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Theology

Heart not my own

Hamann, describing the Christian giving his heart to God as a renunciation of ownership of his heart: “Here it is my God! You demanded it, as blind, hard, rocky, misguided, and stubborn as it was. Purify it, create it anew, and let it become the workshot of your good Spirit.…

November 26, 2008

Donkey theology

Ken Way of Biola University gave a very interesting paper on the various Hebrew terms for donkeys and mules. He focused on Zechariah 9, which, he argued, has long been mistranslated. It has the largest cluster of donkey terms in the Hebrew Bible, refers to the prophecy concerning Judah in…

November 25, 2008

Date riddle

Al Wolters gave a very thorough and sophisticated explanation of the term peres in the writing on the wall in Daniel 5. I can’t reproduce it all, but one of the cool things that emerged from it was that the weights mentioned add up to 181, and the date of…

November 25, 2008

Sacrificial terms

Christian Eberhart of Lutheran Theological Seminary gave a presentation on the nature of sacrifice. I’m not a stickler for method, but there were basic methodological problems with Eberhart’s approach. He started from a definition of sacrifice from Wolfhart Stegeman, which laid out four meanings of the word “sacrifice” in modern…

November 24, 2008

Cross as “vital disruption”

Lawrence Wellborn gave a fascinating paper on Alain Badiou’s treatment of Paul. I’m not sure I can summarize everything in his rich and wide-ranging paper, but I’ll try to get some of the main themes in the enumerated points below. 1) He began with a summary of what Badiou means…

November 24, 2008

Sermon notes, First Advent

INTRODUCTION When Jesus comes into the world, He claims that the “time is fulfilled,” and the rest of the New Testament fills this out. With the coming of Jesus, a new age begins. We live in a different time because of Jesus, and this different time should be embodied in…

November 24, 2008

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