Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Place names become fraught with meaning by association with people and events. The name “Wittenberg” calls to mind Luther and the Reformation for Protestants and Catholics alike. Geneva has a wider range of associations, but the Reformation Wall, with its four main statues of William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza,…
“…a mystery without a solution, a horror story without savagery, a nightmare in which all the watches stop at noonday…” The Bestial Gardens of Men Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” (Luke 23:30) The following lines by Edgar Allan Poe,…
2 Samuel 11-12, which record David’s sin with Bathsheba and its aftermath, is structured chiastically: This arrangement highlights several things about the episode. It reinforces what is obvious from even a casual reading, that the transition in the story occurs with Nathan’s confrontation of David’s sin and David’s confession. Up…
Medieval bestiaries are packed with quaintly inaccurate information about animals, birds, and other created things. Foxes and snakes are devilish critters; stags, pelicans and elephants are Christlike in their various ways. Of course, the medievals picked this up from the Bible, where bestiary observations are fairly common. “Go to the…
What do Reformational Catholicism and craft beer have in common? The question seems to beg for a punchline. Better yet, it would be pretty good clickbait for an article on Katharina von Bora’s “spirited” contribution that helped spark the Protestant Reformation. Well, this is no joke and I am certainly…
Suffering Defined Suffering happens. We witness it all around us and experience it in our lives. It often comes from forces beyond our control. Suffering is inscrutable; it strikes unexpectedly, on a bright summer day or a cold winter night. We lament and are bewildered by suffering. But we are…
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The miracle at Cana takes place on the seventh day of John’s gospel. It’s a wedding, and it’s “Sabbath.” If we assume that the fall of Adam took place on the first Sabbath, then the Johannine Sabbath provides some neat parallels and reversals. In particular, this parallel may illuminate Mary’s…
John’s talk of the “only-begotten” has been taken as a reference to an “eternal begetting” of the Son. I agree. But the specific “begetting” spoken of in the Old Testament is the begetting of the “Son,” the Davidic king (Psalm 2:7 with 2 Samuel 7:14 and Hebrews 1), which occurs…
Is God limited by His nature? If we say No, we’re radical nominalists and voluntarists; God might turn ugly at a whim. If we way Yes, we have the uncomfortable feeling that we’ve constrained God. The problem is in that word “limit.” Better to avoid it altogether. It’s not as…
INTRODUCTION Advent has traditionally been a period of fasting in preparation for the feast of Easter, though the abstinence of Advent has usually been much less rigorous than the fast of Lent. Are regular periods of fasting appropriate in the new covenant? THE TEXT “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up…
1 Corinthians 10:16-17: Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a communion in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf which we break a communion in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of…
Christmas is all about Jesus. The angels announce Jesus’ birth, shepherds and wise men come to see Jesus, Herod wants to kill Jesus. We occasionally think of the Father who sent the Son, but we keep returning to the Son made flesh in Bethlehem’s manger. Meanwhile, as always, the Spirit…
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