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Writing

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

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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 6

10. Do not slander [tattle on] a slave to his master, Lest he curse [denounce] you and you be found guilty. The Sojourner of Proverbs 30 is a humble man. He makes this clear in verses 2-4, where he says that he is stupider than anyone else on earth, but…

by James B. JordanMay 2, 1990
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Biblical Horizons

An Old Debate Revisited

In retrospect and at first glance, many of the issues that have plagued and divided the Church seem incredibly trivial. The Quartodecimians were branded as heretics for celebrating Easter on 14 Nisan. One of the issues that divided the Eastern and Western Churches in 1054 was the kind of bread…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Advent

Gold, Incense, and Myrrh

The gifts of the wise men have been commonly interpreted as royal gifts to the infant King of the Jews. Each of the three gifts is, indeed, connected with kings and kingship in Scripture. The Lord’s anointed is pictured wearing a crown of gold in Psalm 21:3, and the gold…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Biblical Studies

Why Should I Join A Church?

The Church is not in good shape. Nearly every week we hear about another prominent Christian leader who has fallen into scandalous sin. Many shepherds feed their flocks a diet of baby food, if not outright poison. Few Churches celebrate the Lord’s Supper regularly, and few Christians appreciate its importance.…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 5

Two things I asked of Thee, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and words of falsehood far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches, Feed me with the food that it my portion, Lest I be full and deny Thee, And say, "Who is the LORD?"…

by James B. JordanApril 2, 1990
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Biblical Studies

Joseph, the Righteous Husband

During the Middle Ages, Joseph, the husband of Mary, was the butt of many jokes. Medieval theater and art often depicted him as something of a buffoon, decidedly marginal to the gospel story. In part, this was the unfortunate obverse of the exaltation of Mary; any man would suffer by…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1990

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Music

Overhearing

Collingwood: “The reason why gramophone music is so unsatisfactory to any one accustomed to real music is not because the mechanical reproduction is bad - that would be easily compensated by the hearer’s imagination - but because the performers and the audience are out of touch.  The audience is not…

September 21, 2009
Art

Art and Idealism

A few selections from Hegel, “Oldest System Programme of German Idealism” (1796; name given by Franz Rosenzweig in 1913); from Simon Critchley, Very Short Introduction to Continental Philosophy (Oxford, 2001) “I should like to give wings again to our physics which is progressing slowly and laboriously via experiments. Thus –…

September 21, 2009
Philosophy

Hamann contra Hegel

Hegel arranges art, religion, and philosophy on a scale.  Art, bound to sensuous external stuff, is the lowest self-expression of Geist , religion’s representation ( Vorstellung ) climbs a bit higher, but the peak comes with the pure, transparent, total conceptual clarity achieved in philosophy. Only: Even philosophy has to…

September 21, 2009

Hegelian sacraments

Charles Taylor writes that for Hegel “Europe had to go through the Reformation before the rational law-state could be built.  The Catholic variant of Christianity was not yet purified of its intrication with external forms, with sacraments and priestly power.  Thus the Catholic church is led to fight the state…

September 21, 2009

Eucharistic meditation

1 Peter 1:1: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered. Peter here uses the word “diaspora,” which in Jewish writing of the first century refers to the scattering of Jews after the Babylonian exile. This is one of the many ways that Peter identifies…

September 20, 2009

Exhortation

Trinity season seems to be an anomaly in the church year. The other seasons mark and celebrate what God has done for us. Advent and Christmas celebrate the incarnation of the Son, Epiphany marks His revelation to the Gentiles, Lent is a time for remembering His sufferings and death; Easter…

September 20, 2009

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