Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
“13th of July, 4:50 pm. I'm sorry. I know that means little at this point, but I am. I tried, I think you would all agree that I tried. To be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right. But I wasn't. And I know you…
CS Lewis's 1948 essay on “Priestesses in the Church” strikes a reader today as simultaneously quaintly naive and trenchantly prescient. The naive part comes near the beginning, where Lewis describes the decision to take “a revolutionary step.” It would “cut ourselves off from the Christian past and to widen the…
Imagine a version of the Lord of the Rings beginning with Sauron riding into the Shire and lopping off heads in a mad search for the ring, driving Frodo to flight from the beginning, helter-skelter and harried. While, no doubt, some Hollywood exec is at this moment scrambling to reboot…
A Communist Confession of Faith states that the aim of the Communists is “to organize society in such a way that every member of it can develop and use all his capabilities and powers in complete freedom and without thereby infringing the basic conditions of this society.” This aim can…
The story of the Fall enjoys a peculiar place in Christian thought. Together with the creation account in the two chapters that precede it, it is one of the few Old Testament narratives consistently to escape the relative neglect the Hebrew Scriptures often suffer. While the characters of Abraham, Moses,…
In the previous essay, we saw that fire is a work of the Holy Spirit. The two are related so closely that they cannot be separated. Now we turn our attention to the Spirit's relationship to water. Many have understood Spirit baptism to be a dry baptism, one that is…
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John Courtney Murray was a defender of the just war tradition, but recognized that it was more honored in breach than observance. In a 1959 article, he wrote: “The tendency to query the uses of the Catholic doctrine on war initially rises from the fact that it has for so…
John Barach writes: “I’ve been working on Psalm 5 and happened to read Van Gemeren’s treatment of it in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary today. In connection with verse 10 (‘Declare them guilty’), Van Gemeren writes: “’ . . . the psalmist prays for their demise. The declaration of their ‘guilt’…
I’ve learned that Engaging with Barth: Contemporary Evangelical Critiques , a thoughtful evangelical critique of Barth, is now available inNorth America, published by T&T Clark. More information about the UK edition is available at the book’s website, www.engagingwithbarth.com .
Paul expresses amazement that the Galatians could return to the “weak and poor elements” after being liberated by Christ (Galatians 4:9). But were the elements always so weak and beggarly? It seems not. They were powerful enough to enslave (4:3). To be sure, they enslaved children, but that does take…
Galatians 3-4 is constructed with a fairly neat chiasm: A. Abraham, Spirit, faith, 3:1-14 B. The Law is not mediator of one, 3:15-22 C. We were under tutors, 3:23-26 D. Baptism, 3:27-29 C’. Under stoicheia, 4:1-11 B’. Personal appeal, 4:12-20 A’. Abraham’s two sons, one by the Spirit, 4:21-31 The…
Paul begs the Galatians to become as he is (Galatians 4:12). In context, this means, “Give up circumcision, the Jewish food laws, observance of days, months and seasons.” Why should they? The basis for Paul’s exhortation is the fact that he has become as they are: “Become as I, because…
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