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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Apologetics

Christianity: Who Needs It?

Evangelistic Message to the Uninformed: 1 Timothy 3.14-16 Even though this is written as a sermon for delivery, and even though it was preached in a homiletics class, I decided I can’t post it as a sermon because it was not truly preached at a place where nonchristians wanted to…

by Mark HorneMay 7, 2024
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Acts

Jesus’ Post-Resurrection Appearances

If we only read the Gospels of Mark and Luke, we might get the impression that Jesus’ ascension was on resurrection Sunday. Matthew speaks of going to Galilee but he does not put things into a clear time frame. John shows us that Jesus appeared to the disciples eight days…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 1, 2024
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Biblical Studies

The Bible and Western Literature

The most cursory glance at the history of Western literature reveals that it has been deeply influenced by the Bible. Some of the greatest classics of Western literature draw their plots, characters, and ideas largely from Scripture; Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost are two of the most notable…

by Peter LeithartApril 24, 2024
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Biblical Theology

Inglorious Bastards

Few themes emerge as profoundly and persistently in the streams of biblical narrative as the conflict between light and darkness, and the juxtaposition of humanity with monstrosity. These themes not only weave through the fabric of Scripture, emerging in stories from Genesis to Revelation, but also stitch together the human…

by Kyle LammottApril 17, 2024
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Luke

Mary Magdalene: Sister, Sinner, Saint

In John Wenham’s work, Easter Enigma , he devotes an entire chapter to Mary Magdalene, which is rephrased and summarized here. 1 One of the interesting things that Wenham said was that Mary Magdalene was the second “most favored woman in the Bible.” 2 He adds, “Yet apart from a…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 9, 2024
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Daily Mutual Encouragement

God made man to live in a larger relational context, and even in high rebellion, man cannot escape his created nature. Instead, that nature takes revenge on rebellious man. Autonomous and alone, the self craves absolution but recognizes no authority that might give it; it thirsts for glory but rejects…

by Tim NicholsApril 4, 2024

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History

Tribal Middle East

Stanley Kurtz of the EPPC has a lengthy essay review of Philip Carl Salzman’s Culture and Conflict in the Middle East (Humanity Press) in the April 14 issue of The Weekly Standard . The book comes with the endorsement of Daniel Pipes, who calls it “one of the handful of…

April 21, 2008

Sermon Outline, Fifth Sunday After Easter

INTRODUCTION In the early chapters of Matthew, Jesus is shown as the new Moses and the new Israel. The focus is shifting in chapter 12. Jesus is the “son of David” (v. 23), a warrior confronting Satan’s kingdom, and greater than Solomon (v. 42). In the following chapter, He takes…

April 21, 2008

Eucharistic meditation

Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees here for being bad trees and producing bad fruit. Their bad fruit is primarily their words –…

April 20, 2008

Baptismal meditation

Matthew 12:28: if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. In many historic baptismal rites, there is a moment of exorcism. The candidate for baptism is asked if he renounces the devil and all his works, and all his…

April 20, 2008

Exhortation, Fourth Sunday After Easter

We don’t quite know what to do with all the talk of demons and devils in the New Testament, and we often adopt an implicitly secular understanding of the world. We don’t take much account of demonic influence on human life. We think psychologists and sociologists can explain most anything,…

April 20, 2008
Philosophy

Miracles

“Whatsoever comes to pass, comes to pass by the will and eternal decree of God.” The Westminster Confession? Nope; Spinoza. Yet, the argument where this appears is incoherent. Spinoza claims that the Bible’s attribution of miraculous events to God is an accommodation to pre-existing opinion (he somehow has extra-biblical access…

April 16, 2008

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