Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The famous definition of faith with which the eleventh chapter of Hebrews opens has received a number of different interpretations. The crux of the problem is the interpretation of the words translated in…
This essay is an exploration of one element of the final of the four Gospels, the Gospel of John. My thesis is that the Gospel of John answers the issue of "friendship" being a homoerotic category. It challenges the "Greek Way of Love and Friendship" 1 It is indeed the…
"And I also way to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it" (Matthew 16:18). Matthew 16:13ff. has historically been one of the most oft-cited passages of Scripture. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was used…
Matthew 8-9 records three clusters of miracles, interspersed with snatches of Jesus’ teaching about various aspects of discipleship. Just as the Sermon on the Mount displays the authority of Jesus’ Word in teaching, these chapters display the authority of Jesus’ Word over sickness, uncleanness, the creation, demons, and death. In…
The association of women and wells in the Scriptures has long been noted by theologians, a symbolism closely connected to marriage which begins in Genesis and climaxes in Revelation. There is a lesson drawn in the water of wells that I’d like to explore, but before that I must trace…
Of course, since the Israelites had agriculture, Solomon was not paleolithic as that term is used today. But "paleo" is simply a prefix meaning old or previous , the opposite of "neo." In that sense, I wonder if we might understand Solomon better if we interpret his statements and riddles…
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Phyz.org reports that clothing still makes the man, but it may not be the most expensive of fashionable clothing that makes the best status statement. Harvard University researchers found that students attributed higher status to the more slovenly: “In one study, students were asked to rank the perceived professional status…
Exhaustion has become a popular topic in Germany, many complaining “We are the most exhausted age.” Wolfgang Martynkewicz provides some contrary evidence, though he doesn’t appear to know it. In Das Zeitalter der Erschopfung , he examines German bourgeois and bohemians of the early twentieth century and finds that they…
Jesus’ declaration to the prostrate John (Revelation 1:17-18a) is a neat little, rich little chiasm: A. I am ( ego eimi ) B. First C. Last D. Living One C’. Became dead B’. Behold! Alive A’. I am ( eimi ) to ages of ages Several observations: First, the whole…
In addition to heaven, earth, sea, and underworld, Mesopotamian cosmology believes in an intermediate region between the earth and the underworld, belonging to the god Ea. Though not entirely consistent in mythologies, and the relationship between the Apsu and the sea and the Apsu and the underworld is ambiguous, Horowitz…
David Biale observes in Blood and Belief that “the ancient Israelites were the only Near Easterners to make blood a central element in their religious rituals” (10). He fills out the picture: “There were, to be sure, magical and medical rituals mentioned in Akkadian, Sumerian, and Hittite texts that used…
Drawing on the work of Jonathan Klawans ( Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism ) and others, David Biale ( Blood and Belief ) points to the difficulty of reconciling the “Priestly” and “Holiness” sections of Leviticus. In the “Priestly” code, found in Leviticus 11-15 and Numbers 19,. impurity is…
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