Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Protestant-Catholic relationship has hardly been an untroubled one. And yet, the possibilities for various layers of reconciliation are better then at any time since the original schism 500 years ago. One of the symbols for the church that is used in Scripture is the church as a household (Ephesians…
Despite the layers of wiping, covering, and ransoming during the Day of Recoverings, true unity still has not been achieved. Divorce is still possible; God still might leave his people. Thus the Day of Recoverings must be repeated every year. The perpetual expression of unity between God and man in…
The events of Leviticus 16 are commonly known as “The Day of Atonement,” from the Hebrew phrase yom hakippurim, in Leviticus 23:27. However, it would be more accurate to say, “The Day of Atonements,” [i] since the word is plural. The plurality primarily relates to 16:33, which states five different…
Mary Douglas, against the common notion that primitive religious rituals were illogical and random asserts, “The analysis of ritual symbolism cannot begin until we recognize ritual as an attempt to create and maintain a particular culture … Any culture is a series of structures which comprise social forms, values, cosmology,…
Jesus holds seven stars. They are the angels of the seven churches (Revelation 1:20). For ancient readers and hearers, "seven stars" would evoke a number of associations - the seven planets, the seven stars of Ursa Major, and the seven stars that make up the Pleiades. The last makes a…
When he first arrives in Harran, at Paddan-Aram, the home of Laban his uncle, Jacob sees a well. Wells are mentioned frequently in Genesis. Twice Hagar finds a well in the wilderness (Genesis 16:14; 21:19). Philistines seize Abraham’s well (21:22-34), and Abraham’s chief servant finds a wife for Isaac at…
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INTRODUCTION Jesus sows the word, and it falls on different sorts of soil. The right response is to give up everything in order to gain the kingdom ( 13:44 -46), but those closest to Jesus scorn Him ( 13:53 -58). THE TEXT “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure…
Matthew 13:33: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened. We noted in the sermon that leaven often represents something dangerous, poisonous, evil, contemptible, unclean, abominable. Leaven was not allowed on the altar of God,…
As much as pragmatic Americans might wish it to be otherwise, the Bible is not an answer-book. It includes advice, and laws, and rules, but a lot of it consists of puzzling prophecy, ancient history, obscure parables and apparently abstract theology. What are we supposed to get from that? We…
Athanasius: “the Son is in the Father . . . because the whole being of the Son is proper to the Father’s ousia , as radiance from light and a stream from a fountain; so that whosoever sees the Son, sees what is proper to the Father and knows that…
“Classical theism” is charged with rendering God remote, immovable, unfriendly. But the reality is the opposite; Nicene orthodoxy said God was near, far nearer than Arius wanted Him to be. Thomas Weinandy writes: “The Creed . . . professes that this God who is Father is almighty and thus, contrary…
When Hillary and W. got to college, both had posture photos taken, nude or in underwear. So says M. F. Burnyeat in the May 16 TLS . Burnyeat adds, “Officially, the idea was that the pictures would reveal which students needed remedial treatment for poor posture. In reality, the project…
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