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

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Biblical Studies

Tweets-turned-Notes on the Bible’s Chronology

Summary In what follows, I will consider the “year-stamps” employed in Scripture, i.e., statements of the form, “Such-and-such an event took place in the Xth year of Y.” In the process, I will suggest some ways in which the Biblical narrative might relate to events in the extra-Biblical world, though…

by James BejonJuly 16, 2019
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Luke

Perspectives on the Prodigal, (Part 2)

In the first essay on the parable of the Prodigal Son, I suggested that the problems commentators and others encounter in interpreting Jesus three-part parable are not accidental. These are not just problems in our ignorance of cultural background. They are intentional features of the stories —stories designed to poke…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 11, 2019
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Luke

Perspectives on the Prodigal, (Part 1)

The story of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the most well-known story in the Bible. As others have observed, it may also be one of the most misunderstood. In two short essays, I will point out features of this story that are commonly neglected, aspects of Jesus’ parable that might…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 9, 2019
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Luke

Lazarus and the Rich Man

The parable of Lazarus and the nameless rich man is not an independent story. It is part of a long context that begins in Luke 15:1, where Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners and the scribes and Pharisees grumble. In response to their hardheartedness, Jesus tells a three-part…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 4, 2019
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Luke

Everybody has Dropsy - Luke 14:1-24

The Bible is written so that even when a reader cannot pick up on what might be deeper or more detailed aspects of a text, there is virtually always a message to be heard. In the ancient world, where the “reader” of Scripture would likely be a church official facing…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 2, 2019
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Biblical Theology

Fruit Trees and Grain Plants

The distinction between garden (or vineyard) and field begins in Genesis 2. This relates to the ordering of the formless world. Plants of the field are contrasted with the garden planted by God in Genesis 2:5&8. Later on, under the Old Covenant the Israelites will be required to keep their…

by James B. JordanJune 27, 2019

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Anglicans and Civil Partnerships

The London Times story reporting that Anglican bishops were proposing to endorse celibate homosexual “marriage” was inaccurate in several important respects. For clarity, see the article on the subject at rathernot.classicalanglican.net.

June 8, 2005

Sermon outline, June 12

INTRODUCTION Jehoram, the second son of Ahab to reign over Israel, was a somewhat more faithful king than his father (2:2). Unlike his brother, Ahaziah, he attempts to re-conquer Moab. He succeeds because Yahweh provides water miraculously. THE TEXT ?Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at…

June 8, 2005

Translation, 2 Kings 5

Now Na’aman chief of the host of the king of ‘Aram was a great man before the face of his master. And he lifted his faces for in him Yahweh gave salvation to ‘Aram. Now the man was a mighty-man of strength - struck-with-disease. Now ‘Aram, marauding-bands went out And…

June 8, 2005

more on Hart, The Beauty of the infinite

Part II, I.1: Trinity ii. Divine Fellowship. In the previous section, Hart addressed one of the dangers of misreading Rahner?s rule, namely, the danger of dissolving the ontological Trinity into the economic. In this section, he discusses the opposite danger of forsaking ?the economic for the immanent Trinity, by allowing…

June 7, 2005
Philosophy

Hamann and Bible

John R. Betz continues his efforts to introduce contemporaries to the riches of the thought of Johann Georg Hamann in a fine article in Pro Ecclesia (14:2) about Hamann’s early London writings that reveal the core of his theological aesthetics or aesthetic theology and his approach to Scripture. A favorite…

June 3, 2005

Translation, 2 Kings 4

Now a woman, one from the women of the sons of the prophets cried out to ‘Eliysha’ saying “Your servant my man is dead. Now you yourself know that your servant was fearing Yahweh And the creditor/forgetful-one has entered to take two of my children to himself as servants.” And…

June 2, 2005

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