Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Why was Abel’s offering approved and Cain’s rejected? This question has been debated for many centuries. Some have argued that Cain’s offering was rejected because it was not a bloody offering; others that Cain’s offering was rejected because it was not from the firstfruits; others that Cain’s offering was rejected…
Last year I had occasion to work through the book of Luke as I did some work for one of my editorial clients, and this year my pastor has been preaching through Luke. Thus, I have twice been reminded of the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-13), a parable…
We come now to what some have called the "Gordian Knot" of Biblical chronology: the period of the kings of Israel and Judah. We do not have a summary figure that tells exactly how long this period of time was. The book of Kings provides the years each king reigned,…
In an earlier article , while examining the biblical symbolism of dew, I noted the parallel in Psalm 133 between the dew upon Mount Hermon and the oil poured upon the head of Aaron. Both the dew of Hermon and the oil of ordination are compared to the pleasantness of…
The Covenantal Gospel was the last book written by the remarkable South African theologian and exegete Cornelius van der Waal. Two other works of van der Waal’s have been translated: Hal Lindsey and Biblical Prophecy , and Search the Scriptures . Because this book was written in 1979, it does…
A year or so ago, my wife and I were invited to a Christian school in order to preview a film on drug abuse that was going to be shown to our children. One of the children in this film turned out, of course, to be using drugs. This child’s…
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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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