Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
My good friend, Jason Ewert, recently posted a review of Pastor Douglas Wilson’s book, Against the Church . Jason correctly notes that Pastor Wilson’s main pastoral motivation in writing this book is to combat dead orthodoxy. Dead orthodoxy is a real problem in Reformed churches that celebrate the primacy of…
At the church I pastor, we have four servers who distribute the communion elements to the congregation, and I distribute the elements to those in the foyer and nursery. The servers and I do not partake of the bread and wine until the congregation is served first. As this has…
We at Trinity House believe that the church ought to raise and train her future pastors. Part of that training may be carried out by specialized institutions like Trinity House, but the church and her leaders are ultimately responsible for that training. To encourage churches to assume that responsibility, Trinity…
Sandra Jacobs's The Body as Property examines the role of physical disfigurement in the Hebrew Bible, with focus on the Torah, and more specifically on the (fictitious) Priestly document, P. After an introduction laying out a rationale for the comparative method that guides her research, she explores circumcision, the use…
Yahweh saves. That’s what Isaiah’s name means, and that’s what Isaiah’s prophecy is about. Yah saves Judah when Aram and Israel pressure her. He saves Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege. He brings Judah back from the grave of Babylonian exile. But this triumphant message of Isaiah fizzles. The last few…
Are apostasy and assurance mutually exclusive? Some seem to think so. But let’s consider this a bit: No Reformed man would ever say that a man who is “saved” today will be safe forever no matter what . Rather we say, “your sins are forgiven, now, walk faithfully, glorify the…
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Robin Lane Fox ( Pagans and Christians ) summarizes Constantine’s telling of the story of Daniel: In the court of Cambyses, Daniel “worked his miracles and prayed intently three times a day. The Magi became jealous of this new superior, and so he cast him to lions in the royal…
That’s how Stroumsa describes early Christianity, because of its preference for the small, portable codex over the traditional, sacred but quite cumbersome scroll. The codex had practical advantages, but Stroumsa thinks that something else was at work: “In going against all religious and cultural norms, the Christians manifestly knew that…
Guy Stroumsa’s book, The End of Sacrifice (just released from the University of Chicago) is small in size but raises huge questions. Based on lectures delivered at the College de France, Stroumsa’s book examines religious, religio-political and religio-anthropological shifts during the first centuries after Christ. He sees several new emphases…
Eusebius ( Gospel Preparation , 4.17) charges that human sacrifice was regularly practiced by ancient peoples: “And whether it is Phylarchus, or any one else, who records that all the Greeks, before going out to their wars, offer a human sacrifice, do not thou hesitate to take him also as…
Aristotle defined magnanimity or “great-mindedness” as a proper estimate of one’s merits: “The Great-minded man is then, as far as greatness is concerned, at the summit, but in respect of propriety he is in the mean, because he estimates himself at his real value (the other characters respectively are in…
In his Oration to the Saints , Constantine repeats the patristic commonplace that Greek philosophy owed a debt to Moses: “Moses excelled his predecessors in wisdom to such a degree that even those who were praised by the nations as wise men and philosophers came to emulate his wisdom. For…
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