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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Some notes cut from a larger project. The story of the first books, as Stephen Mitchell explains in the introduction to his recent translation of the poem, is a story of civilizing. The entire poem is framed by references to the city of Uruk, but the city moves from a…
Jesus tells the Pharisees who accuse Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan that, on the contrary, He is the stronger man who binds the strong man and comes to plunder the “vessels” of his house (Mark 3). The only other place where Mark uses the word…
NT Wright suggests that Jesus’ response to the Pharisees’ complaint about his disciples “harvesting” on the Sabbath puts them in the role of Doeg the Edomite, who watched David get showbread from the priests at Nob (end of Mark 2). A student points out that the Edomite theme is still…
The structure of Mark 3:1-6 seems to be basically chiastic: A. Jesus’ entry to synagogue B. man with withered hand C. heal on Sabbath? D. Jesus to man E. Jesus to Pharisees F. Silence E’. Jesus angry and grieved at Pharisees D’. Jesus to man C’. ?? B’. restored hand…
How can we justify knowledge? Very roughly: Foundationalist justification is justification from the origin. We can’t let the argument stray from the source, lest it meander. Pragmatic justification is justification at the end. We know what is true because it proves true, it works. Foundationalist justification is “tragic.” Pragmatic justification…
Richard Muller points out the essential continuity of Protestant interpretation with patristic and medieval models: “The Reformers and, indeed, the Protestant orthodox all assumed that the living Word addressed the church directly in and from the text. In other words, they advocated a spiritual and ecclesial exegesis that participated in…
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