Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In our first essay we looked at Kline’s flawed exegesis of Genesis 2:5 as it relates to Day 3 of creation. Now we turn to Kline’s new argument against a chronological reading of Genesis 1, as found, again, in "Space and Time in the Genesis Cosmogony," Perspectives on Science and…
One of the advantages of paying very close attention to the details in the Bible, especially chronological and genealogical details, is that they can shed light on situations that don’t seem to make much sense apart from them. One such situation is that of Bathsheba. It appears that Bathsheba willingly…
Once upon a time, Jeff Meyers and Tony Rollins–old friends who had not seen each other for a few years–met in the parking lot of a neighborhood church. They were dropping off their pre-school children at the church for Mother’s Day Out. They were such conscientious and helpful fathers. As…
Years ago, when I was at the briefly-existing Geneva Divinity School, I taught a course in the Apocrypha. One thing that struck me at that time is that two of the stories are almost certainly religious allegories (as well as moral tales): Judith and Susanna. Since "Susanna" means "Lily," this…
Peter’s essay inspires me to write up some similar thoughts about the flower of the field. Rightly does Peter associate the almond with Yahweh’s garden, because the Garden of Eden is symbolically positioned as parallel to the Holy Place of the Tabernacle and Temple. To wit: Since Aaron’s rod blossomed…
We have had occasion to discuss the views of Meredith G. Kline previously in these newsletters, and now it is time to do so again. Kline teaches at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and also at the Westminster Theological Seminaries (Philadelphia and San Diego). He is the author of some interesting insights…
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Darrin Belousek ( Atonement, Justice, and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church ) gives a provocative reading of Isaiah 53’s Suffering Servant. He argues that the passage doesn’t teach a penal substitutionary view of the atonement. He isolates two issues: First, he claims that…
I address the gay marriage debate again this morning at the First Things site .
The dragon in heaven (Revelation 12:3) has seven heads, ten horns, and seven diadems on his seven heads. There’s a lot going on there, no doubt, but faced with a list like that my instinct is to start adding. It turns out to be a useful operation in this case.…
The bride of the Song is a closed garden (4:12), her spices and fruits inaccessible, her springs of living water sealed up. Winds blow over the garden of the bride, spreading her fragrance (v. 16). But no one can feast, or drink, or see her beauties, until the Lover enters…
Commenting on the Song of Songs 4:10, Paul Griffiths ( Song of Songs (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) , 108-9 ) points out that love’s wound is not only the result of failed love or love’s absence, but inherent in love itself: “As the lover caresses his beloved’s hair…
Six times in Isaiah, things “break forth” ( patsach ). The word means “break,” as in breaking bones (Micah 3:3), but in Zion the things broken always sing. When you compile all the uses in Isaiah, it amounts to a cosmic chorus. The whole earth breaks into song (14:7); heavens,…
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