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Writing

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

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Epistemology

A Cheer for the Mystics

Mystical theologians are often unguarded, extreme, un-nuanced, pressing to the edges of heresy, sometimes beyond. Still, the mystics are worthy of study. Why? Many reasons. Unlike some late medieval and post-Reformation dogmaticians, mystical theologians are often instinctively and richly Trinitarian. Historical-critical approaches to Scripture left mystical theologians virtually untouched; mystics…

by Peter LeithartSeptember 2, 2013
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Literature

Shadow and Substance in Shakespeare's Venice

Portia of Belmont is a “lady richly left,” as Bassanio says of her in the first Act of The Merchant of Venice . Plus, she’s beautiful and wise. Suitors clamber to Belmont in hope. Her father knew it would be so, and in his will set up a fairy-tale test…

by Peter LeithartAugust 28, 2013
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Liturgy

Liturgy Traps

[fve]http://vimeo.com/72195198[/fve]

by James B. JordanAugust 26, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Victory Food

In the nature of the case, “the” Christian meditation on Deuteronomy 14:1-21 cannot be written. Meditation offers too many possibilities, opens too many doors. There is not one and only one correct set of associations for a Christian to consider when thinking of Deuteronomy 14:1-21. We could, for example, consider…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 21, 2013
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Romans

David's Sin and Israel's Salvation, Part I

Having retold the story of the cumulative sin of Israel leading to the great atonement on the cross, Paul then reemphasizes that, just as both Jew and Gentiles were locked into sin and judgment, now they are both justified by faith: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.…

by Mark HorneAugust 20, 2013
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Deuteronomy

You are what you eat

Deuteronomy 14 is full of allusions to events of Israel’s history and other portions of Scripture. What would an Israelite learn by mediation on these allusions? The answer, I believe, is at least fourfold. Faith, Worship, War For the ancient Israelite first hearing Moses’ sermon, or perhaps hearing it read…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 15, 2013

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Politics

The Obama phenomenon

John Judis has an interesting discussion of the roots and significance of Obama’s candidacy in the March 12 issue of TNR . In part, he sees it rooted in the American obsession with novelty. By presenting himself as the “candidate of the new,” Obama strikes a deep chord in the…

March 13, 2008
Politics

Abortion and Crime

In the journal Economica , Leo Kahane, David Paton and Rob Simmons offer an analysis of the supposed link between abortion rates and the reduction of crime rates in the UK (the article is entitled, “The Abortion–Crime Link: Evidence from England and Wales”). The authors challenge the findings of several…

March 13, 2008

Sermon notes, Palm Sunday

INTRODUCTION On the day we call Palm Sunday, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem after a long journey. As He enters the city, the people proclaim Him as King. He is the King, the King come to inspect His house and declare judgment against it. THE TEXT “Now when they drew near…

March 11, 2008
Philosophy

Dionysian causation

Milbank suggests that Thomas’s view on causation was more Dionysian than Aristotelian. That is, it was not external and prior to its effects, but rather is an “attribution to the original source of the ‘gift’ of the effect in its whole entirety as effect.” On this view, “a cause does…

March 7, 2008
Theology

Faith seeking understanding

The common description of theology as “faith seeking understanding” is often understood in a dualist fashion: Faith is the starting point, then reasoning takes over on the basis of faith, and through that process of reasoning, faith reaches understanding. Milbank suggests on the contrary that for Augustine and Anselm and…

March 7, 2008

Spiritual substance

According to Scheeben, created spirit is inhibited not only by matter but by other matter-like obstacles, particularly by potentiality and the composite (form/matter, act/potency) character of created things. Created spirit is “material” in comparison with the free and unihibited simplicity of divine spirit. Elsewhere he says that “immaterial substances” are…

March 7, 2008

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