Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
As we move into the Persian period of ancient history, and try to reconcile it with Daniel’s prophecies, we need to ask some hard questions about the interpretation of the data before us. One question concerns the reliability of the Biblical witness, and beyond that a second question concerns the…
Ewa Majewska Thompson: Understanding Russia: The Holy Fool in Russian Culture Ewa M. Thompson is Professor and Chairman of the Department of German and Slavic Studies at Rice University. In this seminal study, she investigates the concept of the "holy fool" as it exists in Russian culture and civilization. While…
The most cursory glance at the history of Western literature reveals that it has been deeply influenced by the Bible. Some of the greatest classics of Western literature draw their plots, characters, and ideas largely from Scripture; Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost are two of the most notable…
Each time the Scriptures recount the story of Moses’ birth and deliverance from Pharaoh, reference is made to two facts about that event. First, each text points out that Moses was "beautiful." Second, each text points out that Amram and Jochebed, his parents, hid him for three months (cf. Ex.…
Click HERE for Part 1. The Message of the Covenant Can we really say that the saints presently rule the world, and always have since Noah? Look around and you can see that the wicked rule in virtually every country on earth. There are wicked civilizations that rise Babelically age…
As we saw last time , we have come to the place in the study of Biblical chronology where it seems that we are forced to abandon the Bible itself as our primary source of information. If we assume that the seventy sevens of Daniel 9:24-27 are in fact weeks…
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The epigram to chapter 11 of Charles Freeman’s Closing of the Western Mind is from a letter of Constantine to the churches in Alexandria: “We have received from Divine Providence the supreme favor of being relieved of all error.” The footnote leads to Ramsay Macmullen’s Christianity and Paganism in the…
Yesterday, Hillary Clinton disappointed human rights activists by degrading the role of human rights issues in her discussions with Chinese. Differences on human rights will not, she said, interfere with the common interests of the US and China. Today, she commends the Chinese for bailing out the US by continuing…
Momigliano again, pointing out that the church had ways of dealing with the barbarian threat that were not available to pagans: “The educated pagan was by definition afraid of barbarians. There was no bridge between the aristocratic ideals of a pagan and the primitive violence of the German invader.” At…
Not not did the church draw the best men, men who otherwise would have been, Momigliano says, “generals, governors or provinces, advisers to the emperors,” but it drew popular enthusiasm and loyalty, and money: “Money which would have gone to the building of a theatre or of an aqueduct now…
Arnaldo Momigliano suggests that one of the key ways that Christianity contributed to the decline of Rome was by siphoning off the best and brightest to the church. The “central feature of the fourth century” was “the emergence of the Church as an organization competing with the State itself and…
Constantine’s legislation in the Theodosian Code includes several odd decrees that prohibit soothsayers and other magicians from “crossing the threshold” of a house under the pretext of friendship. Private soothsaying is prohibited. At the same time, Constantine says that soothsayers will be consulted if lightning strikes the palace, and also…
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