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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Wright on Colossians 2:8: He points out that Paul uses the rare verb sylagogein (“to take captive”) because “it makes a contemptuous pun with the word synagogue.” Paul’s warning is not just about those who would take captive, but about the temptation to lapse back into old covenant modes and…
Reflecting on Colossians 1:19-20, NT Wright notes that the incarnation and cross were not “undertaken with reluctance or merely because there was no other course. God not only acted in this way: he ‘took pleasure’ in doing so.” Much popular atonement theology suggests otherwise: The conflict between God’s mercy and…
Alan Wolfe, announcing the end of the culture wars with the election of Obama, accuses the South of voting against Obama because Southerners are racists: “The single most disturbing aspect of last night’s election is the transformation of the Republican Party into the party of the Confederacy. Yes, Republicans remain…
Ruth 2:10: Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, Since I am a foreigner? As Toby pointed out last week, the book of Ruth appears in the “writings” section of the Hebrew Bible, right after Proverbs. If you were reading the Old…
We who believe the Bible is God’s word hear this slander all the time: How can you believe a Bible that permits slavery? How can you worship a God who gave Israel the harsh, dehumanizing, bloodthirsty law of Moses? Our response should be to show them the actual Torah. The…
Fenn again, reflecting on the serpent’s temptation: “The Word of God is ‘solid,’ whereas all other words are slippery at best and may be downright empty or misleading. But one only knows the word as solid if one is in a solid relationship to the author: a relationship of trust…
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