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Hermeneutics

Midwives of a New Israel

Midwives are rarely mentioned in Scripture, but play a prominent role in the first chapter of Exodus. The word midwife is used seven times in verses 15-22, though it is used only twice elsewhere in the Old Testament. The reason, I think, is not merely that the midwives were heroic…

by Peter LeithartOctober 27, 1996
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Biblical Studies

Leviathan and Job, Part 2

Leviathan (41:1-11) is the climax of the theophany, the culmination of the Lord’s speech. His final answer to Job’s injudicious charges against God’s justice. After hearing God rehearse the characteristics of Leviathan and His absolute power over him, Job instantly repents in dust and ashes. He confesses, "I know now…

by Jeff MeyersOctober 5, 1996
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Biblical Chronology

Countdown to Exile (I) Political Conservatives Versus the Christian Right

Our purpose in this study is to lay out the chronology and history of the Kingdom of Judah from the reign of King Josiah to the completion of the exile of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar, with particular attention to the events recorded in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The Empire of Assyria…

by James B. JordanSeptember 28, 1996
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Baptism

Do Baptists Talk to their Babies?

Protestants have always insisted that the sacraments bring no benefit without a response of faith, but this seems to undermine infant baptism, since infants do not appear to be able to exercise faith. Luther and Calvin held together their insistence on faith with infant baptism by claiming that infants can…

by Peter LeithartSeptember 27, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

Presbyterian, Examine Thyself

Traditional Presbyterian theologians regularly cite 1 Corinthians 11:28 as an argument against the practice of paedocommunion. Children must be able “to examine themselves” before they come to the table. Supposedly this text demands a certain level of intellectual capability as well as the capacity to engage in self-conscious introspection, both…

by Jeff MeyersSeptember 5, 1996
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Biblical Studies

Leviathan and Job, (Part 1)

Yahweh’s two speeches at the end of the book of Job (38-41) should bring some closure to the book. The prologue has the whole cosmic order arrayed against the blameless and upright Job, "a man who feared God and shunned evil" (1:1, 8; 2:3). Yahweh’s capstone speeches affirm God’s absolute…

by Jeff MeyersSeptember 5, 1996

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Liberalism

World After Liberalism

In A World After Liberalism , Matthew Rose takes note of a generational change taking place in American conservatism. Younger conservatives associated with the alt right don’t read the same writers as their elders: “Instead of William Buckley it is Curtis Yarvin. Instead of Milton Friedman it is Peter Thiel.…

November 1, 2021
American Politics

Administrative Law

C olumbia Law School professor Philip Hamburger's The Administrative Threat makes a powerful case that the executive branch has assumed “absolute power,” albeit in a “soft” form. It is entirely unConstitutional. Through its administrative bureaucracy, the executive branch has taken on the power to create “legal obligation—the obligation to obey”…

October 26, 2021
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Political Theology

Innocence of Pontius Pilate

I recently reviewed David Dusenbury’s The Innocence of Pontius Pilate in my First Things column . It’s an enthralling book, a work of scholarly detection that maps out hidden pathways of European intellectual and legal history, the first book (so far as Dusenbury knows) to investigate debates about Pilate’s innocence…

September 13, 2021
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Medicine

COVID Diagnosis

Whether they intend to or not, parents are training their children by the way they respond to COVID. Pastors are training their churches. There are temptations on every side. Put aside debates about the efficacy of masks, lockdowns, distancing, vaccines, and do some self-diagnosis: Will your response to the pandemic…

September 9, 2021
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History

Realness of Things Past

Greg Anderson began thinking about the thesis of his Realness of Things Past while working on a book on the “state” in classical Greece. He discovered there was no such thing as an Athenian “state,” and that conclusion led him to question the way historians do history. Instead of running…

September 6, 2021
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MissionTypology

Typology, Maturation, Mission

To some Christians, typology is at best ornamental, pretty and cute, but irrelevant to the serious business of the church, irrelevant to the church’s mission. Some Christians have similar views of the Lord’s Supper: Inspiring and helpful, but hardly essential. To such skeptics, I say: “Luke 24. Tolle lege .”…

August 30, 2021

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