Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Standing in the narthex at the font, parents joyfully approach with their newborn child. The pastor asks the parents a series of questions that may include their renunciation of the devil and all his works, their faith in God the Father, Son, and Spirit as explained in the Apostles’ Creed,…
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, with…
Get the Psalm 30 Translation here Psalm 30 is a song for the dedication of "the house." Since it is by David, the house would seem to be his palace in Jerusalem. The psalm has an ABA structure, with the B structure being an exhortation to the saints, and the…
I once asked a ferryboat captain if steering a ferry was any different than driving, say, a big semi truck. He looked at me like I had just asked whether a bowling ball fell when you dropped it. “It’s completely different,” he said. “On the river, you never stay pointing…
The key scene in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing comes just after the first wedding scene when Claudio tosses Hero aside as a "rotten orange." He has been tricked into thinking that Hero is unfaithful, and that is an affront to his honor. He won't put her away quietly. He…
Medieval Christianity is in the news. That’s exciting for me as I have a PhD in medieval theology and I teach Ancient and Medieval Church History at Covenant Seminary. Thus I have a little “skin in the game,” as the saying goes. Earlier this week our President made some comments…
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The following is an excerpt from my The Baptized Body (Canon, 2007). Protestants have always emphasized that salvation comes through faith, yet most Protestants have baptized babies. How can these two things hold together? Luther and Calvin held together their insistence on faith with infant baptism by claiming that infants…
Last week, I summarized Thomas Aquinas's argument to the effect that human beings do not create. As Thomas would have expected, there's another side to the story - a sed contra - neatly outlined by Robert Miner in his Truth in the Making . Miner agrees that Thomas denies the…
Stuart Schwartz knows that his All Can Be Saved "goes against the grain in many ways. First of all, it is an examination of attitudes of tolerance among common folk, not philosophers or theologians. Second, it deals with both the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds, which are normally treated apart" (8).…
Writing at The American Conservative , Bonnie Kristian explains why the "few bad apples" defense of American policing doesn't work. She offers seven lines of evidence to show that police brutality is systematic rather than occasional. For instance: "Only one out of every three accused cops are convicted nationwide, while…
Fintan O'Toole highlights the "border issue" that may undo Brexit. He's referring to "the question of whether a hard customs and immigration border is to be imposed between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic." It's not merely a technical question of "borders and customs, of tariffs and passports." It's fiendishly…
David Lachterman ( Ethics of Geometry ) suggests that the specific novelty of the modern age is that it doesn't regard itself as a period of history. It's instead "consummate," in two senses: "as the 'final' period which brings to a permanent close all prior epochs by exposing their imperfections…
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