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History

Congregational Theocracy: That Time Theocrats Ran Puritan New England

Timon Cline wrote recently that “theonomists” didn’t run Puritan New England. 1 He is correct, in his major thesis, that the claim that “Puritanism and the natural law tradition are antithetical” is “wildly ahistorical.” Mr. Cline demonstrates that Puritans repeatedly extolled natural law. Besides the Puritan sources Mr. Cline mustered,…

by John CarpenterAugust 9, 2022
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Mark

The Land of the Walking Trees

The Church is the land of the walking trees. In Mark’s Gospel, the identity of Jesus is slowly and progressively revealed. Though St. Mark announces at the beginning of his narrative that Jesus Christ is “the Son of God” (1:1), this is a reality that must be spoon-fed to His…

by Jackson ShepardAugust 4, 2022
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Ephesians

The Significance of Ephesians (with a comparison to Romans)

All Scripture is of ultimate significance as the word of God, but it may be helpful to think about what makes a book (in this case, a letter) possibly unique within the canon. In this case, the “general” nature of Ephesians should stand out, but it often is not recognized…

by Mark HorneAugust 2, 2022
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Ecclesiastes

A Time to Kill (Ecclesiastes 3:3)

Where do we draw the lines between what is right and wrong? This question is fundamental to civilization, fundamental to a free society. To put this question in the bluntest and most offense terms: if there is a time to kill — which Solomon says there is — whom shall…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 28, 2022
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Biblical Horizons

Broadening Our View of the Trinity

This article was originally posted in May of 1994. We speak of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The early Church tended to speak of Him as Father, Word, and Spirit. In this short essay, I want to suggest some other ways to think of the Trinity, ways that…

by James B. JordanJuly 26, 2022
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Jonah

Journeying Prophets in Kings

Jonah’s Home The story of JONAH belongs in the book of KINGS. JONAH balances the story of the unnamed Judean prophet (1K13) in KINGS’ literary structure. Each story describes a journeying prophet that crosses land or sea to confront a wayward king. The two stories are located during the reigns…

by Scott FairbanksJuly 21, 2022

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Not Nicene Christianity

Wright ( How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels ) claims that “the creeds were remarkable, a unique postbiblical innovation to meet a fresh need. They have functioned as the badge and symbol of the Christian family . . . for a millennium and a half. They…

March 11, 2013

Substitutionary Atonement

In his recent How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels , N.T. Wright argues that many forms of atonement theology detach the cross from its proper context in the gospels - that is, the context of God’s coming kingdom. He finds that many “devour works” that deal…

March 11, 2013

Law and History

The first of Pastor Ralph Smith’s multi-part series of studies on Deuteronomy is up on the Trinity House site. Ralph is the Pastor of the Mitaka Evangelical Church of Tokyo.

March 11, 2013

Your God Reigns, Isaiah 52

INTRODUCTION Zion has called on Yahweh to awake (Isaiah 51:9), and Yahweh has responded by rousing Jerusalem from her sleep (51:17). Now, Yahweh rouses Zion to wake up to get ready for release and a wedding (52:1). THE TEXT “Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your…

March 11, 2013

Marriage at the Movies

Romantic comedies and dramas have long been Hollywood staples, but Jeanine Basinger’s I Do and I Don’t reviews the alternative tradition of films about marriage. As Judith Newman says in her NYT review , the trick to making marriage dramatic is to create problems for the married couple. Newman writes:…

March 9, 2013
Politics

Conspiratorial Hobbes

In his TLS review of Noel Malcolm’s three-volume edition of Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan , David Runciman summarizes the origins of Leviathan. Hobbes wrote the book in France, watching the civil war unfold, sometimes serving as tutor to the future Charles II. As he finished writing in 1650, he had concluded…

March 9, 2013

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