Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The history of the sin of Ham and the curse of Canaan comes in the middle of the Generations of Noah, a section of Genesis that begins at Genesis 6:9 and extends to the closing notice, Genesis 11:9. To understand the story better, it is necessary to get in mind…
This paper was written to persuade people who were members of the Presbyterian Church in America. It should be accessible to anyone who believes in baptizing infants–especially to those who consider themselves a part of the Reformation Tradition. References to “our Confession” or “our standards” invoke the Westmeinster Confession of…
Version 1.2 I write this brief essay in order to address a problem I have encountered. I keep reading explanations of doctrine of the sacraments fundamentally empty of the content which was once held by virtually all Reformed confessions and formulations. Furthermore, I read explanations and commentaries on the Westminster…
We continue our analysis of John Sailhamer’s book *Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account* (Multnomah Books, 1996), which argues that Genesis 1:2ff. is not about the creation of the whole world, but about the preparation of the Land of Eden, which is also the Promised Land.…
III. Death of God’s Firstborn in the real Egypt: This huge chiasm has as its center the betrayal of Peter, as the leader of the disciples himself rejects Jesus. Peter holds an oficial position as high priest among the disciples of the incarnate Lord. His rejection of Jesus is the…
I wrote a response to Rev. Richard Bacon’s tract, What Mean Ye by This Service , a copy of which I borrowed from the library at Covenant Theological Seminary. However, I recently discovered that a new appendix was added to the version available on the Blue Banner’s web page. This…
Showing page 257 of 309
Showing page 8 of 43
What Esther Meeks calls the "defective epistemic default" of modernity infects and paralyzes biblical interpretation. In this default, knowledge is defined as information. This can only produce puzzlement about the details of the Bible. They aren't symbols; they aren't clues; they text isn't pregnant with meaning. The details are there…
Jesus turned water to wine at the wedding to Cana. It's the first sign, John tells us (John 2:11). It's an epiphany of the Word made flesh. Of what is it a sign? The wedding takes place on the "third day" (2:1), which is the seventh day in the sequence…
For our culture, real knowledge is the bits of data we accumulate by observation and experiment to store in our brains. Once harvested, knowledge is an impersonal and atemporal heap of information. In the Bible, knowing isn’t so simple. The Bible forces us to ask, When? How? and Who? God…
Adults in the Room , Yanis Varoufakis's account of his brief time as the finance minister of Greece, has all qualities of a tragedy. It is, Varoufakis writes, "the story of what happens when human beings find themselves at the mercy of cruel circumstances that have been generated by an…
A couple of excellent passages from Paul Tyson's De-Fragmenting Modernity . First, this on how modernity's "immanent frame" (Charles Taylor) not only prevents governments from addressing social problems, but actually creates conditions that cultivate the problem in the first place (2-3): "At a policy level, we are more or less…
Yahweh speaks the Ten Words to his son, Israel . The Words are ultimately pointing to the Son, who takes flesh to become true Israel. The Ten Words speak of Jesus, and Jesus is the final interpretation of their demands. "Honor your father and your mother," the Lord says, and…
Showing page 62 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
