Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
It seems to be old news, but I was unaware of it until recently. Australian academics argued that mothers should be allowed to terminate the life of a newborn child. [i] Why would they promote such an idea? Because before the child is born it is not always possible to…
This is the second of two essays introducing Pascal’s Wager. Click HERE for Part 1. In “The Pop Star and the Mathematician” I gave an overview of the apologetic approach commonly called Pascal’s Wager. In that Wager, 17 th -century French mathematician Blaise Pascal argued that the choice between Christian…
This is the first of two essays aiming to introduce the reader to Pascal’s Wager. The second will address criticisms of the Wager. In the early 1990s, a perennially popular British pop star was interviewed on British television about his very public evangelical Christian faith. “What if,” the reporter asked…
Matthew 13 is about secrets. In this chapter, Jesus teaches eight parables and tells the disciples that they reveal the secrets of the kingdom (13:11). And much like Samson who both tells riddles and is himself a riddle that the reader must solve, so Jesus not only tells secrets but…
Click HERE for part One. THE TEXT AS TABERNACLE Creation – Initiation – Genesis (1 Samuel 17:1-11) The gathered armies not only remind the reader of Ebal and Gerizim, but also of the very reason that Israel was established (Creation) , set apart from the other nations by the circumcision…
What to do with Job’s Final “Friend,” Elihu Elihu is a strange character, at least in the sense of how and where he appears in the book of Job. Why does he not appear with the other three “friends?” Does his argument differ from any of the first three who…
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Robert Bellamy states the thrust of his "republican defense of constitutional democracy" up front ( Political Constitutionalism , viii). He rejects the common assumption that "a written, justiciable constitution, incorporating a bill of rights" is a "necessary safeguard against the abuse of power by democratic governments." Written constitutions often have…
Adam Kirsch can't bring himself to say that poet Richard Wilbur, who died last weekend, was a Christian. In a 2004 New Yorker review , he comes close - recognizing religious themes and describing him as a "Transcendentalist." Kirsch recognizes that Wilbur's religious vision infused his poetry: "the clean laundry…
In Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed (33-4), Tracey Rowland takes note of the Pope's sharp critique of popular music, including contemporary Christian music. Benedict "quotes Adorno’s judgement that ‘the fundamental characteristic of popular music is standardization’ and describes this as ‘incompatible with the culture of the Gospels, which…
Evolutionary theorists want to present evolution as a theory of everything. Benedict XVI ( Truth and Tolerance , 180-1) doesn't buy it. Philosophically, the question is "whether reason, or rationality, stands at the beginning of all things and is grounded in the basis of all things or not. The question…
In his book on sacral Kingship (90-1), Francis Oakley points to the disjunction between Augustine himself and the medieval writers to claimed his mantle. Augustine's political theology in the City of God has been read through the lends of his anti-Donatist writings. A more theocratic Augustine results: "the Augustine whom…
Gaul is still divided into three parts, according to Stefan McDaniel in a 2016 essay in First Things . Three parties are vying to determine the future of France - deconstructionists, children of 1968; reconstructionists, in search for new values to guide the country, including consideration of Islam; and classicists,…
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