Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Protestant-Catholic relationship has hardly been an untroubled one. And yet, the possibilities for various layers of reconciliation are better then at any time since the original schism 500 years ago. One of the symbols for the church that is used in Scripture is the church as a household (Ephesians…
Despite the layers of wiping, covering, and ransoming during the Day of Recoverings, true unity still has not been achieved. Divorce is still possible; God still might leave his people. Thus the Day of Recoverings must be repeated every year. The perpetual expression of unity between God and man in…
The events of Leviticus 16 are commonly known as “The Day of Atonement,” from the Hebrew phrase yom hakippurim, in Leviticus 23:27. However, it would be more accurate to say, “The Day of Atonements,” [i] since the word is plural. The plurality primarily relates to 16:33, which states five different…
Mary Douglas, against the common notion that primitive religious rituals were illogical and random asserts, “The analysis of ritual symbolism cannot begin until we recognize ritual as an attempt to create and maintain a particular culture … Any culture is a series of structures which comprise social forms, values, cosmology,…
Jesus holds seven stars. They are the angels of the seven churches (Revelation 1:20). For ancient readers and hearers, "seven stars" would evoke a number of associations - the seven planets, the seven stars of Ursa Major, and the seven stars that make up the Pleiades. The last makes a…
When he first arrives in Harran, at Paddan-Aram, the home of Laban his uncle, Jacob sees a well. Wells are mentioned frequently in Genesis. Twice Hagar finds a well in the wilderness (Genesis 16:14; 21:19). Philistines seize Abraham’s well (21:22-34), and Abraham’s chief servant finds a wife for Isaac at…
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In contrast to other commentators, Stephen Smalley ( The Revelation to John ) doesn't think the “wrath” of God in Revelation should be understood as “the impersonal consequence of sin, worked out in history and disclosed at the parousia.” In Revelation and the rest of the New Testament, rather, “‘wrath'…
Adrian Daub and Charles Kronengold examine the James Bond Songs in a forthcoming book. It doesn't seem an especially promising subject; it's not the kind of thing you expect from the venerable Oxford University Press. But Daub and Kronengold show that the music is revealing in more ways that the…
Babylon is first mentioned in Revelation in 14:8, and is immediately associated with wine. It's called the “wine of the passion of her immorality.” That suggests a number of connections. The Song of Songs links wine with love: Love is better than wine, and the lovers drink each other and…
Drawing on Andrew Walls's idea of the “Ephesian moment” in world Christianity, Emmanuel Katongole notes that the coming together of different cultures into the church depends on a common table: “the expression and test of that coming together was the meal table: ‘two cultures historically separated by the meal table…
Three angels issue announcements in Revelation 14. The first angel is said to be flying in midheaven (14:6), the same phrase used for the eagle who appears after the fourth trumpet blows (8:13). Both speak with a loud voice (8:13; 14:7). The messages are somewhat contrasting: The angel announces three…
Scholars have doubted the coherence of this chapter, one calling is a “pastiche” of themes from other parts of the book of Revelation. In a brilliant article, Pieter GR de Villiers has presented a compelling structural analysis of the whole chapter. As a number of scholars have pointed out, chapter…
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