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

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Biblical Studies

Funerals and Flutes

Matthew 8-9 records three clusters of miracles, interspersed with snatches of Jesus’ teaching about various aspects of discipleship. Just as the Sermon on the Mount displays the authority of Jesus’ Word in teaching, these chapters display the authority of Jesus’ Word over sickness, uncleanness, the creation, demons, and death. In…

by Peter LeithartApril 17, 1992
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Baptism

Daddy, Why Was I Excommunicated?

Since the early 1980s, several of the conservative Reformed Churches have debated and wrestled with the issue of paedocommunion (infant communion). The PCA and the OPC assigned study committees to examine the question, both of which produced useful reports both in support of and against the position. Though the debate…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1992
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Biblical Chronology

Chronologies and Kings, Part 9: Jehu, Hazael, and Assyria

(This issue of Biblical Chronology concludes a discussion of the Biblical and Assyrian chronologies, begun in previous posts. Click on the category link of "Biblical Chronology" above to see previous issues. Did Shalmaneser Know Jehu? Allis writes: "The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser contains, in addition to brief accounts of the…

by James B. JordanMarch 23, 1992
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American Culture

Arts and Play, Part 4

Movies Movies as an art form have a powerful impact because they take place in a dark room, on a large screen, with no distractions, and because they entail many of the arts: music, acting, choreography, design and color, etc. A movie can be an overwhelming experience for a young…

by James B. JordanMarch 23, 1992
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Leviticus

The Ecology of the Tribute Offering

The Hebrew word translated as "grain offering" or "cereal offering" is minchah . Like the translation of `olah as "burnt offering," the translation of minchah as "grain offering" is somewhat deceiving, since minchah does not refer to grain or cereal. In liturgical contexts outside of Leviticus, in fact, the word…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1992
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Ascension

Skinned and Cut

"He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces" (Leviticus 1:6). The normal word ( `olah ) that is translated as "burnt offering" and "whole burnt offering" has nothing to do with either burning or wholeness. It is the noun form of a verb meaning "to…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1992

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Philosophy

Meta-Narrative’s Revenge

Postmodern intellectuals believe they have seen through the arrogant or naive efforts of earlier generations of intellectuals. Now we see the folly of foundationalism, now we see that all knowledge is intertwined with regimes of power-knowledge, now we know that all thought arises from knotty aporias. We see that their…

February 22, 2006
Philosophy

Meta-Narrative’s Revenge

Postmodern intellectuals believe they have seen through the arrogant or naive efforts of earlier generations of intellectuals. Now we see the folly of foundationalism, now we see that all knowledge is intertwined with regimes of power-knowledge, now we know that all thought arises from knotty aporias. We see that their…

February 22, 2006
Philosophy

Universalism and relativism

Is truth universal? Is the only alternative to an idea of the universalism of all truth an affirmation of the relativism of all truth? This seems to be a false dichotomy from the beginning. Upon a moment’s reflection, it seems clear that the truth is that some truths are relative…

February 22, 2006
History

Tantrum of the Intellectuals

Featherstone suggests that postmodernism is in part a “loss of confidence on the part of the intellectuals in the universal potential of their project.” Thus, postmodern theory is marked by “tendencies toward indeterminacies , the recognition of openness, pluralism, randomness, eclecticism, incoherence, paralogism, intertextuality, the primacy of the many over…

February 22, 2006
Politics

Theology of punishment

In a recent First Things review, Gilbert Meilander summarized Oliver O’Donovan’s theory of punishment as follows: “anything called punishment must be ‘backward-looking’ and hence, in some sense, retributive. But he is not persuaded by any account of retribution that things of it as a simple exchange - in which the…

February 22, 2006
Literature

Hamlet again

INTRODUCTION It is often said that fourth acts in Shakespeare plays are weak. Action slows down, the principal character is sometimes off stage, and the drama seems to dissipate before the final catastrophe. Act 4 of Macbeth begins with Macbeth’s renewed contact with the witches, but then trails off in…

February 22, 2006

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