Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21). James hooks the different sections of his epistle together by using the same or a similar word at the close of one section and…
Deuteronomy 8 is organized as a new chiasm: A. Remember and do commandments, 8:1-2 B. Manna and clothing in the wilderness, 8:3-4 C. Know in your heart that Yahweh disciplined you, 8:5-6 D. The good land, 8:7-10 C'. Do not be proud in heart, 8:11-14 B'. Manna and water, 8:15-17…
Should we use the category of "nature" in our theology? Start, as ever, with some Bible-thumpin': If someone were to construct a "metaphysics" or view of reality from the Bible alone, the category of nature would not be a prominent one. Here and there, the Bible uses this word and…
The doctrine of the Trinity is woven into our worship every week. We are called to worship in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We confess the Trinity in the Nicene Creed. We are blessed in the Name of the Trinity. Pervasive as it is, the…
Eight students from five states and seven different churches attended the Trinity Term course, our first intensive course for the 2014-15 year. Two pastors were in the class, along with five pastoral students and one layman. James Jordan lectured through the book of Genesis, and Peter Leithart added several lectures…
The world seems to be coming apart at the seams. A jihadist uploads a video showing an American journalist being beheaded. Ferguson, Missouri, endures night after night of demonstrations that turn into vandalism. Russia is meddling with Ukraine, ISIS is on the move in the Middle East, illegal immigrants (we're…
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In Exodus 12:2, Yahweh tells Moses that the month of Abib, the month of Exodus, will be the first month in Israel’s calendar. Israel gets a new time with the Exodus. Yahweh informs Moses using the word “head” or “beginning,” which reaches back to Genesis 1:1. The new time of…
In his 1974 book, The Fall of Public Man , Richard Sennett writes, “The reigning belief today is that closeness between persons is a moral good. The reigning aspiration today is to develop individual personality through experiences of closeness and warmth with others. The reigning myth today is that the…
Culler writes: “because the sign is arbitrary, because it is the result of dividing a continuum in ways peculiar to the language to which it belongs, we cannot treat the sign as an autonomous entity but must see it as part of a system. It is not just that in…
Culler points out that there are both paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations at every level of language. Nouns combine with prefixes and suffixes, and the possible syntagmatic combinations help to define the noun: “A noun is partly defined by the combinations into which it can enter with prefixes and suffixes.” Friend…
I have the suspicion that Saussure’s theory of the arbitrariness of signs depends on a political theory - namely, some form of social contract theory that posits a pre-social state of nature. Saussure seems correct that signs are arbitrary if we imagine some Adam formulating language de novo . To…
In response to my post on Calvin and the de-centered self, reader Eric Enlow of Handong International Law School in Pohang, Korea, writes: “I liked your post on the de-centered self; I couldn’t agree any more with the central argument. “My own sense, however, is that if Calvin deemphasizes a…
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