Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
"Vanity of vanities", says the Preacher. "All is vanity". Life, we are told in the book of Ecclesiastes, is a repetitious, wearisome cycle; all that is and all that will be has already been. There is nothing new under the sun. What is crooked cannot be made straight, what is…
The Bible tells us that when God created the earth, He set up three zones of life. The first was the world itself. The second was the holy land of Eden. And the third was the Garden in Eden, God’s sanctuary. God told Adam and Eve that every tree was…
In our survey of Biblical chronology we have arrived at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which provide chronological information for the period after the return from exile, the Restoration Period of Old Testament history. The question we begin to address in this essay is whether the Artaxerxes of these…
These verses from the Sermon on the Mount are generally taken in connection with Jesus’ earlier statement concerning adultery in the heart (vv. 27-28); the eye and the hand have obvious relevance to the sin of adultery. At the same time, most commentators admit that the principle of avoiding occasions…
17. The eye that mocks a father, And despises to obey a mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it. 18. There are three things that are too wonderful for me, Four that I do not understand: 19. The way of…
The modern Church in America and virtually everywhere else is ideology-centered, not geographical. This is because various Churches believe different things and have different customs of worship and sacraments. The ideological Church has gradually developed from the time of the Reformation, because accuracy of doctrine has become more important to…
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As NT Wright points out in his commentary on Romans, Paul’s description of Abraham’s faith reverses point-by-point the earlier description of sinful humanity, humanity under wrath. Abraham believes in God the Creator, while the wicked ignore the creator (1:20, 25). Abraham’s body is as good as dead and yet trusts…
Christians have sometimes suggested that homosexual practice is universally condemned. In Homosexuality and Civilization , Louis Crompton, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Nebraska and a longtime gay activist, shows that homosexuality was common and accepted in various forms in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in…
Some thoughts inspired by Joel Green’s commentary on Luke 22-23: Luke stuffs his account of Jesus’ trials with understated ironies. The soldiers mock Jesus’ prophetic claims by blindfolding and beating Him; but this is just what Jesus said was going to happen to Him. Jesus tells the Jewish leaders that…
Some thoughts inspired by Joel Green’s commentary on Luke 22-23: Luke stuffs his account of Jesus’ trials with understated ironies. The soldiers mock Jesus’ prophetic claims by blindfolding and beating Him; but this is just what Jesus said was going to happen to Him. Jesus tells the Jewish leaders that…
Dana Gioia has a very sensible and positive review of Garrison Keillor’s Good Poems in the April 2004 issue of Poetry . Gioia admits that he at first reacted sniffily at the title and the editor of this anthology, but he says that over several months of reading the poetry…
Here are some slightly repetitive notes for a short talk I gave on The Passion on Friday, March 26. INTRODUCTION I want to discuss a single scene of The Passion , which will lead into both commendation for its strengths and criticisms of some of its weaknesses. The scene is…
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