Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I have never heard anyone say that the Bible is impractical, but I have heard people, after an in depth exegesis of a passage, ask for the practical application. Offer a class on childrearing, marriage, finance and the church members flock to it; offer a course on Leviticus, the visions…
Stones External and Internal The modern practice of dismantling the Bible into a shambles of documents authored in response to disparate historical events rather than viewing it as a unified testimony inspired by God is a surefire way to miss what is actually going on in the text. This failure…
King Asa of Judah made a strong start, purging the land of idols, altars, and images, and winning a war against the ginormous Cushite army led by Zerach. It all unraveled in his final years. From his thirty-fifth year to the forty-first year, when his reign came to an end,…
What appears to be Paul’s first recorded statement on justification comes in Acts 13, in a sermon at Pisidian Antioch. It's can serve as a summary of Paul's letter to the Romans, and throws some important light on the themes of that letter. Paul begins his sermon with a quick…
Iago as Tempter The answer to our first question — whether or not Othello is really great tragedy — has already pointed the way to the answer for the second question — Was Othello a noble Moor or a fool? The two questions, of course, are necessarily related. The fall…
When Adam McIntosh was ordained as Pastor of Saint David’s Church (CREC) in Houston on June 11, 2017, it was the culmination of decades of preparation. Adam is the product of two continents and three Christian traditions. Born in Paducah, Kentucky, he lived his early years partly in Jericho, where…
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Luther-style: “I also want to concede that they [ministers, priests] may perform these sacrifices of thanksgiving for others, just as I can also thank God apart from the mass, for Christ and all his saints, yes, for all creatures. Therefore, the priest may think thus in his heart: “Behold, dear…
In his contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther (Cambridge Companions to Religion) (p. 274) , Robert Jenson remarks on the unfinished business of the Council of Chalcedon: “It is an agreed foundation for all Christian theology: as ‘one and the same’ identifiable person, Christ is both ‘one of…
For Luther, the believer has a doubly de-centered existence. “He who trusts in Christ exists in Christ; he is one with Christ, having the same righteousness as He.” But the believer who lives by faith outside himself in Christ also lives by love outside himself in his neighbor: “a Christian…
My review of Peter Brown’s latest book is up at the Christianity Today site this morning.
In the Old Testament, certain interior spaces were holy because God dwelt in those spaces, consecrating them by His glory (Exodus 29). The objects that were placed in those spaces were consecrated, mostly by oil, to take their place in the presence of God. Things were holy when made fit…
At the Washington Post site, Max Fisher reports on some of the results of a new Pew Forum report on the global religious landscape . Fisher highlights the study’s findings about the reach of Christianity. It is, shall we say, encouraging for Christians. First in sheer numbers: “Christians are by…
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