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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Hermeneutics

The Complexity of Biblical Allusion

There is no question about the fact that the book of Deuteronomy is full of literary allusion. But there is a serious problem, even a paradox, of understanding how that allusion works. To begin with, if we assume that Deuteronomy was written by Moses — with some editorial emendations added…

by Ralph Allan SmithJanuary 23, 2018
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Culture

The Artificial Resurrection

Genesis and Genetics in Blade Runner 2049 The power of science fiction, and what’s positive about it, is that you’re able to experience the worst-case scenario without actually having to live it. (Actor Ryan Gosling, who plays Officer “K”) (Warning: The following analysis contains spoilers for both Blade Runner films.)…

by Mike BullJanuary 18, 2018
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Biblical Studies

The Battle of Gog and Magog

The battle of Gog and Magog is found in Ezekiel 38-39. My purpose in this brief essay is to propound an explanation for this passage that I have not encountered in any of my commentaries, but that makes more sense to me than any other. I offer it here in…

by James B. JordanJanuary 16, 2018
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Deep Hope

I. Varlam Shalamov in Kolyma Tales describes his experience of the Gulag, where he spent more than a dozen of years. In a story titled The Life of Engineer Kipreev Shalamov reflects on the theme of hope in the life of a prisoner: “Hope always shackles the convict. Hope is…

by Bogumil JarmulakJanuary 11, 2018
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Biblical Theology

Abram’s 318 Men

Genesis 14:14 says that Abram mustered his trained men, “born in his house,” to rescue Lot, and gives their number as 318. It is clear that the precise number is provided for some reason, but what is it? S. Gevirtz notes that 318 is the sum of all the prime…

by James B. JordanJanuary 9, 2018
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Biblical Studies

The Flying Scroll

And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits" (Zechariah 5:2). Immediately following his vision of the outpouring of the Spirit upon the restoration community (4:1-14), Zechariah saw a flying scroll. The…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 4, 2018

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Heavenly Economy

Some Christmas reflections on what it means to receive bread from heaven over at www.firstthings.com this morning.

December 21, 2012

Trinity House: A Student Perspective

I don’t think I’ve ever known someone so humble and hungry to learn—even from his students, even from his undergrads—as Dr. Leithart. He loves the subjects he teaches in such an un-possessive way; he both cares for and respects his students enough to interact earnestly with their ideas. I’ve witnessed…

December 20, 2012
Theology

Tracing to God

In one of his Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, Volume 5 (International Kierkegaard Commentary) Kierkegaard analyzes the respond of Job to his suffering: “Job traced everything back to God; he did not detain his soul and quench his spirit with deliberation or explanations that only feed and foster doubt, even though the…

December 19, 2012
History

Impersonal Gift

In her contribution to Negotiating the Gift: Pre-Modern Figurations of Exchange (Veroffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts fur Geschichte) , Beate Wagner-Hasel offers this penetrating critique of Marcel Mauss’s The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies : “Mauss indirectly completed in theoretical terms the very process of depersonalizing and…

December 19, 2012

Trinity House Institute Website

For various reasons, we have decided to change the name of the Trinity Institute to “Trinity House Institute for Biblical, Liturgical, and Cultural studies,” “Trinity House Institute” for short and “Trinity House” for shortest. We are getting a web page set up. Currently, the page includes only our mission statement,…

December 19, 2012

Locke’s project, Locke’s self

In a superb essay on Locke’s “social imagination” in Rethinking Modern Political Theory: Essays 1979-1983 (Cambridge Paperback Library) (21-22), John Dunn traces Locke’s project to a “simple” central concern: “As a whole this thinking can be legitimately represented as the attempt to think through the political implications of a rather…

December 18, 2012

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