Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In a recent article in Biblical Horizons , I argued that the imagery of James 1:21 alludes to baptism, and particularly to baptism as an ordination and incorporation into the holy priesthood. This understanding of baptism as ordination to priesthood is not, I have since discovered, original, but in fact…
He will be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two of them (Zechariah 6:13b). A prime difficulty in the interpretation of this verse is the antecedent of the pronoun "them." A number of alternatives have been offered. Some suggest that the "two"…
Like certain kinds of music, the unchanging rhythm of Aquinas's Summa gets into your bones. Read a few sections and it begins to run through your head. You start drumming your fingers, humming, swaying gently to the rhythm of Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, “It seems-On the contrary-I answer.” The only…
The Book of Revelation is a gold mine of liturgical information. The various hymns and exclamations in Revelation have always been used in Christian worship. As I have been studying Revelation this year, it occurred to me that make a complete hymn out of the various hymns in the book.…
In the book of Revelation we find a triad of Strong Angels, and another triad of Other Angels. The purpose of this essay is to explore the Biblical background of these two sets, and thus fill out their meaning. The first triad of angels we encounter in the Bible comes…
In Revelation, the term aggelos means messenger, of course, but with a special emphasis on messenger as covenant administrator. This is immediately obvious from the fact that the angels are constantly acting to enforce the covenant one way or another: sealing people, bringing judgment, calling for repentance, etc. They are…
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Ezekiel says that Yahweh deals with Judah so that Judah will know that He is Lord. When there are bodies scattered on the high places, then Israel will know that Yahweh is Lord (Ezekiel 6:13-14). When Judah is devastated and the Lord shows no pity, then Judah will know that…
My wish list for Catholics is terribly old-fashioned and terribly assertive. There’s hardly space here to defend my positions or thoroughly critique the Catholic position. So, this may end up sounding like a drive-by shooting or a childish tantrum. I trust that I can formulate my wish list with enough…
Aren Wilson-Wright examines the elements of “Northwest Semitic combat myth” in the theme verses of the Song of Songs (8:6b-7a). I have my doubts about the presence of the combat myth, but even within a strictly biblical frame, his observations illuminate the text. He points out, for instance, that 8:6b…
Stephen Turley ends The Ritualized Revelation of the Messianic Age by elaborating the point made in his title: “for early Pauline communities, rituals and beliefs were in fact irreducible to one another. As such, our ritual reading of Paul provides an exegetical corrective to the traditional relation posited between theology…
Tyler Atkinson uses Bonaventure and Luther as his primary interlocutors in his study of the “work ethic” of Ecclesiastes, Singing at the Winepress . The two giants offer quite divergent readings of the book. For Bonaventure, the vanity of the world encourages withdrawal; for Luther, though, the goal is to…
In his contribution to Reformation Readings of Paul , David C. Fink argues that Luther's doctrine of justification was an effort to “grapple with the great commandment” to love God (45). Luther vehemently rejected the medieval notion that faith as the material cause had to be formed by love as…
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