Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Understanding Shakespeare’s Biblical references is vital for the interpretation of many, if not all, of Shakespeare’s plays. For Othello , it is especially important, not only because the interpretation of the play is contested among various approaches — feminist, homosexual, post-colonial, Marxist, Freudian, new historical, and others — but also…
Mike Allen of Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, scores some points in his review of The End of Protestantism . He lodges the fair complaint that my rhetoric sometimes outruns my evidence. He argues that more stress on the present reality of the church’s unity deepens the tragedy of division; divisions…
I begin with two observations. First, on any millennial view, the Christian account of history is progressive, moving from the garden to the city. It is eschatological not only in that there is an end, but that the end is a glorified beginning, not merely a return to origins. To…
The church is a new form of polity that erupts into the world as much as the Son of God comes into the world. It’s a real-world political alternative to the polities of the ancient world. It resolves many of the political dilemmas of the ancient world, though not simply…
In my last post , I explained how Baptists really have a “one-ordinance-one sacrament” ecclesiology. I said this: “what Baptists really believe, in modern parlance, is that there is one ordinance (baptism which is a sign or symbol only) and one sacrament (the Lord’s Supper in which feeding upon Jesus…
One of the most extensive and penetrating responses to the Yoder-Hauerwas attack on Constantiniansm is found in Oliver O’Donovan’s Desire of Nations , in a chapter entitled “The Obedience of Rulers.” O’Donovan defines the word “Christendom” as “a historical idea,” specifically “the idea of a professedly Christian secular political order,…
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Jesus’ quotations from Genesis 1-2 in Matthew 19:4-5 resemble the pattern in a number of days of creation. On some days, God spoke and made, or made something by speaking. But there are occasions when God first made something and then spoke to it. He made the dry land appear,…
Between Matthew 4 and 19, Jesus ministers in Galilee, never in Judea. As soon as He enters Judea again (19:1-2), He is attacked - just as He was when He was first in Judea, when wise men came looking for the king of the Jews. This is the first Sunday…
If we follow the traditional interpretation in taking “eunuch” in Matthew 19 as a figure for someone who has renounced family and progeny and “manhood” for the sake of the kingdom, then we can surmise that Jesus intends to refer to Himself above all as the one who has become…
In a 2005 article in JSNT, J. David Hester challenges the view that Jesus’ eunuch saying in Matthew 19:12 is an endorsement of celibacy. Part of his argument rests on an analysis of ancient conceptions of eunuchs, who were regularly feared because they confused gender distinctions. Eunuchs must be understood,…
The always-fascinating Spengler predicts the extinction of languages and peoples over the next two centuries: “Half of the world’s languages will disappear by the end of the 21st century, and up to 90% by the end of the 22nd. The majority of these are spoken by a few hundred people…
Between Matthew 4 and 19, there is no mention of Judea or the region “beyond the Jordan.” Once He hears of John’s arrest, Jesus withdraws to Galilee (4:12), and doesn’t come back until 19:1. As soon as He steps back into Judea, the Pharisees come to “test” Him. Apart from…
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