Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
John 18:1-11 appears on the surface to be a straightforward, if somewhat unusual, narrative of Jesus’ arrest by officers of the chief priests and Pharisees accompanied by an apparently large group of Roman soldiers, all of them led by the betrayer, Judas. But there is much more here than what…
Why is the US embroiled in the Middle East? There are two primary answers: Oil and Israel. Both are fairly intractable problems, the latter in significant part because of the unique convergence of theology and politics that has forged American policy in the region. Dispensationalists insist that we must bless…
There’s a common theme that arises in the study of theologians James B. Jordan and Peter Leithart. It is this: Context matters. Details matter. This is God’s Word. The details are not arbitrary “filler” hiding the kernel of truth in the husk of the text. The husk and the kernel…
Perhaps the most fearful of all possibilities in the world is the possibility of betrayal on the part of someone who is in a “position of trust.” This, unfortunately, is the first block in what ought to be the foundation of every marriage in the world. Every woman has a…
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The way we talk about the world matters. Our doctrine of creation tells us that words do not simply reflect reality. They also shape it and the way we inhabit it. Among the world’s many language groups, the Church is distinct. She is called to name things with Scriptural language,…
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I published this review in 2017 when my blog was housed at Patheos. It's been buried on the Theopolis site, and it seemed a good time to exhume it. I made some additions and edits. R ichard Rothstein's Color of Law demonstrates that “until the last quarter of the twentieth…
I wrote the following essay in 2013, just after the Supreme Court's decision in Windsor. With the GOP capitulating (as I predicted ) on gay marriage, it's worth running again . Sudden as it seems to some, the Supreme Court’s endorsement of gay marriage in Windsor was a long time…
According to a common narrative, the Frankfurt School of critical theory, which flourished in the first half of the 20 th century, is the source of today’s cultural Marxism. Having failed to win over the proletariat, the story goes, the revisionary Marxists of Frankfurt – Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter…
The first twelve chapters of Isaiah form a chiasm: A. Lord’s opposition to Judah, 1:1-31 B. High things cut; Jerusalem restored, 2:1-4:6 C. Parable of Vineyard and woes, 5:1-30 D. Isaiah and Ahaz, 6:1-9:7 C’. “Hand stretched out”; woe, 9:8-10:4 B’. Woe to Assyrian axe, 10:5-32 A’. Restoration of Judah,…
1. “Shepherds” are royal , not priestly figures (Psalm 80:1). Moses, Joshua, and David are called shepherds, but not Aaron (Exodus 32:34 with Psalm 23:3; Numbers 27:17; Psalm 78:71-72; cf. Psalm 77:20). The Good Shepherd’s rod is iron (Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15; cf. Psalm 2:7-9). 2. “Pastor” = “shepherd.” In…
Perry Marshall’s Evolution 2.0 is a devastating critique of Evolution 1.0, the neo-Darwinian theory Marshall summarizes in the equation, “Random mutation + natural selection + time = Evolution.” His critique focuses primarily on the “random mutation” factor. Scientists have experimented on fruit flies for decades. By causing mutations through radiation,…
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