Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Paul writes to Jews, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:22b) The English translation “rob temples” makes readers think of pagan temples. There was only one Temple for Israel, so robbing more than one would indicate other temples are in view. And if the Jews wanted to…
Two offerings Humanity’s first vocation involves guarding and serving the trees that emerge from the ground (Genesis 2:15). God provides these trees to humanity for food. A serpent appears and tempts the couple to eat from a special forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Humanity…
At the outset of the Torah (as Christians understand it), a triune God creates the heavens and earth over the course of a seven-day week. Why? What’s the connection between the three and the seven? Could a triune God have created the world over any period of time he chose?…
How relevant to the modern reader are the flying axe head of Deuteronomy 19:5 and the roof parapet of Deuteronomy 22:8? Indeed, how relevant were they to the daily lives of Israelites thirty-five hundred years ago? Suppose that accidental falls from rooftops were exceedingly uncommon in ancient Israel, or that…
1 For most of my life, the standing of the American church as a source of national social and political order was measured by reports from the front of the so-called “culture wars.” 2 Memory brings to mind battles over feminism and the ERA, so-called gay rights, the breakdown of…
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel…’ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the…
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Knight again: “In reply to Sanders’s claim that Lutheran talk of representation and substitution is alien to Israelite sacrifice, I suggest that we should see Old Testament talk of atonement of place as a solution, not a problem. If we make a hard distinction between individuals and persons defined by…
Douglas Knight’s The Eschatological Economy is one of the most stimulating works of theology in recent years. It is also one of the densest. The density doesn’t come from difficult prose or lack of clarity, but from the sheer profusion of insights and ideas, and from Knight’s determination to leave…
INTRODUCTION A delegation of Pharisees and scribes comes from Jerusalem to interrogate Jesus about His conformity to tradition. Jesus turns the tables and interrogates them about their conformity to God’s commandments. THE TEXT “Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, ‘ Why do Your…
Another lectionary meditation at the Christian Century : http://www.theolog.org/blog/2008/06/blogging-towa-3.html.
Jesus is worshiped three times in Matthew, at the beginning, middle and end. At the beginning by the wise men, in the middle by the disciples after Jesus has entered the boat and calmed the storm (14:33), and at the end after His resurrection (28:9) and before He commissions the…
In the background of the story of John’s martyrdom is the story of Jacob and Esau. Because Jacob took the birthright from his brother, Esau sought to kill him, and Jacob had to flee. Herod is an Edomite, an Idumean, descended from Esau, but he is in a sense a…
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