Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The first commandment given in the Levitical sacrificial legislation has to do with the animals appropriate to sacrifice: "When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of cattle ( behemah ), from the herd or the flock" (Lev. 1:2). Cattle alone were…
This post was originally posted in 2004 The ultimate condemnation of a position in Reformed circles is to show that it “leads back to Rome.” Indeed, one gets the feeling that Rome is a worse destination for a Presbyterian than even hell itself. The accusation of Rome stings deeply, of…
There are countless scholars who have helped me in my reading of various passages of Scripture. I have gleaned insights and keys from them that have unlocked texts that once perplexed me. However, no scholar has done so much to teach me how to read the Scripture more generally than…
The Tortoise and the Hare is perhaps the most well-known of the Greek fables. Its story has been present in every era of human history. From the Indigenous retellings with hummingbirds and cranes to the Biblical account of David and Goliath, the basic furniture of an unlikely hero tale is…
Sexual sins are perhaps the most shame-inducing sins experienced by Christians and non-Christians alike. All sins can bring shame, but sexual sins are deeply personal and affect us in profound ways. For example, adultery leaves its victim devastated by betrayal; porn addiction leaves men feeling gross, pathetic, and lazy; losing…
If the mark of a good book is how many times a person can re-read it with pleasure, Richard Adams’ novel Watership Down is one of the best books of the 20 th century. I’ve taught this book in my middle school literature class for the past three years, and…
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Rational people, people of good will and good sense, will differ about the wisdom of the Marriage Pledge written by Ephraim Radner and Christopher Seitz and endorsed by Rusty Reno this week. They have already begun to differ. A defense of the Pledge would go something like this: Churches that…
In his remarkable Acquittal by Resurrection , Markus Barth argues that the judgment by which God justifies “cannot be a paradox or a wanton and arbitrary decision.” Barth lays out three conditions that such a judgment must fulfill if it is to be considered righteous: It must have “a solid…
Timothy Larson of Wheaton has written a number of illuminating, witty books. His latest, The Slain God , examines a neglected chapter in the story of faith-and-modernity, the interaction of anthropology and Christian faith during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Larsen’s book is biographically organized, with a chapter each on…
You know how the curtain parts at the beginning of a play, and you see a new scene, with characters and sets and incidents that had remained hidden up til then? Church last week was like that. Except the curtain was made up of all the things I thought were…
1 Kings begins with a brief story about David, aging and cold, unable to stay warm at night. It’s pathetic, and also thematic, because throughout 1-2 Kings, a king’s health symbolizes the health of his kingdom. But the roots of the story go deeper. When God first created Adam, he…
John’s encounter with the strong angel from heaven is described with a chiasm, and that structure helps solve a puzzle in the passage: a. Strong angel descends from heaven and straddles land and sea, 10:1-2. b. He cries and thunder speaks; what the thunder says is sealed, 10:3-4. c. Oath…
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