Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In The Meaning of History , Nikolai Berdyaev argues that the ancient Greeks had no concept of history and no philosophy of history because their concept of God and the world did not allow for it. “They conceived the world aesthetically, as a finite and harmonious cosmos. The most representative…
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…
Genesis 3 records the terrible day when humanity fell into sin and shalom was violated. This was a moment of cosmic treason, when Adam and Eve violated their relationship with God by rebelling against His command and fell into the severe ignobility we all experience. The entrance of sin wrecked…
One of the most important contributions of twentieth-century Catholic nouvelle théologie , and of Henri de Lubac and Jean Danielou in particular, was its rehabilitation of the typological interpretation of the Bible practiced by patristic and medieval theologians. Typological interpretation assumes that events and institutions of the Old Testament present…
The Catholic News Service has reported that Pope Francis has called for the abolition of not only the death penalty, but also of life in prison. In a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law, the pontiff called for all “Christians and people of good will” to…
Each year, the United Nations designates November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon explains, “Violence against women and girls takes many forms and is widespread throughout the globe. It includes rape, domestic violence, harassment at work, abuse in school, female…
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In the first phase of the sixth trumpet, a voice instructs the trumpet angel to release the four angels at the Euphrates (Revelation 9:14). When they do, a 200 million horse cavalry appears. It’s a huge army; what sort of army is it? The horsemen and horses are terrifying, fire-breathing…
More than one scholar has asked whether the new “apocalyptic” Paul is a Marcionite Paul. Douglas Moo has accused Douglas Campbell’s Deliverance of God of presenting a Paul who teaches an “incipient Marcionism.” Contributors to Beyond Old and New Perspectives on Paul raise similar concerns about Campbell more gently. David…
With all the pomp of an intrepid investigative reporter who has uncovered the next Watergate, Jerry Coyne announces that Catholics believe that God created the world: “The Church’s support of evolution, then, has been equivocal: while allowing that humans had evolved, it also affirmed human exceptionalism in the form of…
Douglas Campbell ( Deliverance of God , 640-656) solves a number of issues at a stroke with his complex, layered explanation of Paul’s use of hilasterion in Romans 3:25. The word is used most commonly in the LXX to refer to the “mercy seat” above the ark, especially in connection…
Douglas Campbell suggests ( Deliverance of God , 739-40) that Genesis 17:5 creates a problem for Paul. There, God promises that Abraham will be the father of many nations, but ties that promise to circumcision. Campbell writes, the birth of Isaac, though whom this promise is realized, “creates a difficult…
Douglas Campbell ( Deliverance of God , 749) convincingly suggests that the promise to Abraham is specifically embodied in his son Isaac: “Abraham is convinced that God is capable of giving him an heir. And if God does so, then the further promises are enabled - more offspring, land, and…
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