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

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Joshua

Passover and the Structure of Joshua 2

The initial chapters of Joshua demonstrate that Joshua is a new Moses, completing the task that Moses began. Moses is named ten times in the first chapter; though dead, he still dominates the scene. The book begins with the announcement of Moses’ death (1:1); Yahweh promises to fulfill what He…

by Peter LeithartNovember 27, 1997
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Apologetics

Apologetics Without Apologizing, Part 3 | Knowing & Explaining What & Why You Believe

The way in which you should defend and prove the Christian Faith and the way in which you debunk alternative belief systems is not the same way that you came to know that Christianity is true and that all alternatives are false. This is important because confusing the two ways…

by Mark HorneNovember 15, 1997
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Apologetics

Apologetics Without Apologizing, Part 2 | Attacking Atheism Without Inviting Idolatry

If we want to learn the best way to proclaim and defend the Gospel, we can do no better than to go to the Bible for guidance. Indeed, not only do we find examples for how to present God’s Word, but we also find examples of problems we will face.…

by Mark HorneNovember 15, 1997
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Apologetics

Apologetics Without Apologizing, Part 1 | When Witnessing Becomes Prosecution

As Christians we all want to see nonchristians convert to faith in Christ by the grace of God. Even more, we probably want to be instrumental in such a conversion–for that would be a special blessing. But let’s be honest: we all hope that such an opportunity will be a…

by Mark HorneNovember 15, 1997
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Biblical Chronology

The Sequence of Events in the Creation Week, Part 2

Day 3 The third day completes the initial structuring work and the initial filling work. First, God separates land and sea, putting the sea below the land. This reproduces the configuration that has just been set up in heaven: land over sea. The earth is being modelled after heaven. There…

by James B. JordanNovember 4, 1997
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Biblical Horizons

The Structure of the Psalter, Some Observations

In this essay, I wish to present some facts not familiar to many Christians, and draw some possible inferences. My purpose is to help us all become more familiar with the Psalter as God has set it out in its final and canonical form. To begin with, let us consider…

by James B. JordanNovember 4, 1997

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History

Secularization of language

In a 1980 article in the Journal of the History of Ideas Margret de Grazia helpfully described what she calls the “secularization of language” that occurred during the 17th century. Her contribution is to show that the often-noted “linguistic pessimism” of the century arose from the destruction of “the traditional…

January 10, 2007

Deritualized selves

Lori Branch links the Reformation and post-Reformation attack on ritual with the formation of the Cartesian self: “the Reformation religious subject gradually became less a participant in communal, bodily ritual action, and more and more the Cartesian cogito , an individual, inward-looking possessor of knowledge drawn from evidence and analysis.…

January 10, 2007

Knowledge and Love

1 John 4:8 says that the one who does not love does not know God because God is love. This might be legitimately read as: God is love; knowing God therefore necessarily involves knowing love; therefore, the one who does not know love does not know God. But that’s not…

January 9, 2007

Savior of the World

The Son is sent to be savior of the world (1 John 4:14). And it’s only as the only-begotten Son that He can be Savior. This is true in the usual sense that Jesus is the “contact point” between God and man. But it’s also true in a more subtle…

January 9, 2007

Only begotten

John uses the phrase “only begotten” ( monogenes ) four times in his gospel (1:14, 18; 3:15, 18). (I’m assuming here the controversial point that the phrase does mean “only begotten.”) He uses it only once in his first epistle: God’s love is manifest in the fact that “God has…

January 9, 2007

Loving discernment, discerning love

Commentators sometimes suggest that 1 John 4:1-6 marks a rupture in John’s argument. 3:23 speaks of love as a commandment of God, but there is no mention of love in 4:1-6, which discusses testing the spirits and the warfare between the Spirit of God and the spirits of the world.…

January 9, 2007

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