Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Theophanic revelation is historically progressive, or eschatological, in character. First of all, in Genesis 1:2, the Spirit appeared inside the creation, sent by the Father. After the creation of man, the Spirit worked and works with humanity to bring us to maturity, from Daughter to Bride to fruitful Mother. He…
On the eighth day of the rite of "filling the hand," Aaron began his service at the altar. His first offering was a "calf" (Heb. `egel ), which served as a purification offering for himself and (apparently) his household (Leviticus 9:2, 8). This is striking for a couple of reasons.…
One of the distinctive items of the high priest’s clothing was the "golden plate" inscribed with the words "Holy to Yahweh" (Exodus 28:36-38). The word translated as "plate" is tsits , which literally means "flower." The verbal and noun forms are both used in Numbers 17:8, which describes Aaron’s rod…
The square, rectangle, and cross shapes appear all over the sanctuaries God reveals in the Bible: Tabernacle, Solomon’s Temple, Ezekiel’s Temple, New Jerusalem. One thing that can be said right away about these designs, and the occasional perfect circle (the lavers), is that they do not occur in nature. They…
"For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40). Some reflections on Jonah’s Big Fish have led to the following essay. Let me…
Citing Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20, James Jordan has written that "the name of God in use among the nations was God Most High’" (Hebrew, `el `elyon ; in Through New Eyes , p. 176). In addition to Melchizedek, one could cite the example of Balaam, who invokes the Lord both…
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Max Gladstone doesn’t think that the human-looking creatures in Star Wars can be humans. After all, they inhabit a galaxy far, far away in a distant time. Humans evolved on earth, and fairly recently. He assembles the clues to their species identity. There are few women, yet the ones who…
It’s popular to deride Putin as a throwback, a Cold Warrior out of his time. Peter Pomerantsev thinks this underestimates Putin’s grasp of contemporary geopolitical realities. A short story by one of Vladislav Surkov, an advisor to Putin, offers a clue to Putin’s strategy. Surkov’s story is about the fifth…
Pastor Tom Clark tells some stories of local catholicity at the Trinity House page this morning.
King Lear is a tragedy of disorder, or so I argue at the Colson Center web site .
When John enters heaven, he stumbles into a worship service. Four living creatures offer praise “day and night without cease” ( anapausis ), like the saints in 7:15 (like the temple servants in Leviticus 8:35; 1 Chronicles 9:33). The Lord exacts ceaseless day-and-night worship later on in the book: Those…
In Ezekiel and Revelation, the cherubim-living creatures are ox, lion, eagle, and man. If they represent the whole of living creation as worshipers, why are there no fish? Why two land creatures - ox and lion? Isn’t that discriminatory? Why not ox, crab, eagle, man? Other biblical lists of creatures,…
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