Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me. In 2005, God blessed our family with our third child, our second daughter, whom we named Bethany. As soon as Bethany was born, we knew there was something different about her. Unlike her two older siblings, who were born…
Christian, what is it that we believe? While Creeds like the Nicene and Apostle’s have been fundamental pieces of Christian liturgy and life, the American Church is highly unattached to these classic statements. From this creedal phobia has arisen the popular “No Creed, but Christ” slogan. Such slogan, of course,…
Revisiting William Cavanaugh’s devastating 2009 The Myth of Religious Violence . The myth of Cavanaugh’s title is a well-known one. According to the myth, religion is a distinct sphere of human life and practice from the rest of human social life, a universal impulse in human beings, and is dogmatic,…
19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20 And when he had so…
An octave is a repetition, a repetition with a difference. It’s not the first note played again , but the first note played at a higher pitch. Octaves have always marked new beginnings. Hebrew boys were circumcised on the eighth day. Firstborn sheep were dedicated to Yahweh on the eighth…
We say Jesus’ resurrection is good news. It wasn’t good news for the disciples on the first Easter. More like perplexing, bewildering news. For others, it wasn’t perplexing, and it certainly wasn’t good. It was plain old bad news. Early in Luke’s gospel, Herod is terrified that Jesus might be…
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During 324-5, Constantine, in Timothy Barnes’s summary, “outlawed the performance of animal sacrifice, ordered that no new cult statues of the traditional gods be dedicated, and forbade magistrates and governors to begin official business with the traditional act of casting incense or some other similar offering on an altar standing…
One of the delicious results of McCain’s Palin pick is that it exposes Obama as just another politician, willing to get down and dirty with the rest of them. No more Obama the transcendent, Obama the supra-partisan, Obama the inventor of a new politics. Of course, nothing wrong with being…
David Garland notes that the transfiguration narrative in Matthew is chiastically structured: A. Narrative introduction, 17:1 B. Transfiguration of Jesus, 17:2-3 C. Peter’s response, 17:4 D. Divine Voice, 17:5 C’. Disciples’ response, 17:6 B’. Jesus speaks, 17:7 A’. Narrative conclusion, 17:8 Garland also notes that the transfiguration shares a number…
INTRODUCTION Death shadowed Jesus from His infancy, when Herod slaughtered the children of Bethlehem. After Peter’s confession, though, Jesus begins to talk openly about the cross that awaits Him (16:21). Predictions of the cross replace Matthew’s summary statements of Jesus ministry (17:22-23; 20:17-19; 26:1-2; cf. 4:23-25). Jesus doesn’t withdraw anymore,…
Revelation 19:6-7: And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to…
Americans always want a formula. We want 12 steps to serenity and 12 to sobriety and 12 to fitness and 12 to happiness. And we want a step-by-step process to ensure success in courtship and marriage. It’s true that many lives have been transformed by the original 12-step program created…
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