Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Midwives are rarely mentioned in Scripture, but play a prominent role in the first chapter of Exodus. The word midwife is used seven times in verses 15-22, though it is used only twice elsewhere in the Old Testament. The reason, I think, is not merely that the midwives were heroic…
Leviathan (41:1-11) is the climax of the theophany, the culmination of the Lord’s speech. His final answer to Job’s injudicious charges against God’s justice. After hearing God rehearse the characteristics of Leviathan and His absolute power over him, Job instantly repents in dust and ashes. He confesses, "I know now…
Our purpose in this study is to lay out the chronology and history of the Kingdom of Judah from the reign of King Josiah to the completion of the exile of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar, with particular attention to the events recorded in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The Empire of Assyria…
Protestants have always insisted that the sacraments bring no benefit without a response of faith, but this seems to undermine infant baptism, since infants do not appear to be able to exercise faith. Luther and Calvin held together their insistence on faith with infant baptism by claiming that infants can…
Traditional Presbyterian theologians regularly cite 1 Corinthians 11:28 as an argument against the practice of paedocommunion. Children must be able “to examine themselves” before they come to the table. Supposedly this text demands a certain level of intellectual capability as well as the capacity to engage in self-conscious introspection, both…
Yahweh’s two speeches at the end of the book of Job (38-41) should bring some closure to the book. The prologue has the whole cosmic order arrayed against the blameless and upright Job, "a man who feared God and shunned evil" (1:1, 8; 2:3). Yahweh’s capstone speeches affirm God’s absolute…
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In his contribution to Must Christianity Be Violent?: Reflections on History, Practice, and Theology , Milbank points out that “the monasticization of the whole of society is much more difficult than the monasticization of the celibate few” (197). Any attempt to establish a quasi-monastic way of life for laity has…
A typically rich passage from Milbank ( Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason ): “Augustine’s critique of pagan religion concerns also its many gods and the ritual relations of the city to these gods. A diversity of gods, governing different areas of cultural life, implies that these areas may…
Writing in the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch , Rob Portman proves his credentials as a Good Republican. When he found that his son is gay, he questioned his earlier opposition to gay marriage: “I wrestled with how to reconcile my Christian faith with my desire for Will to have the same…
Much of Thomas’s discussion of Jesus’ resurrection has an “Abelardian” flavor. The resurrection is less an integral part of the “accomplishment” of redemption and more a support for the life of the believer. Of the five reasons given for the necessity of the resurrection, only one is about the achievement…
Christ’s death delivered from sin. It’s less often recognized that Jesus’ death also glorifies; by His suffering, He brings “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). Thomas makes a place for “glorification” as an effect of Christ’s death largely by his attention to the liberation of the saints from Abraham’s bosom…
In a review of a surrealism exhibit at the LA County Museum of Art, Sanford Schwartz comments on the dilution in the meaning of the word “surreal”: “Surrealism has entered the language as a synonym for almost anything that seems odd, uncanny, or freaky. For some, the very word connotes…
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