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Writing

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

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Art

The Second Word IV: Implications

What About Catholics? (continued) Usually, such people are not seeking graven images, but rather their idolatry is of a broader character. They are seeking a home on earth. Scott Hahn’s book is called Rome Sweet Home . This is the essential sin, for there is no home on earth. The…

by James B. JordanDecember 7, 1994
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Biblical Studies

The Gospel and the Virtues

Reading the earliest Christian apologists is like watching a movie in which the hero has the means to demolish his opponents in his grasp but never realizes it. The apologists come across as men not altogether aware of the radical character of the gospel they defend. In response to charges…

by Peter LeithartNovember 23, 1994
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Biblical Studies

Suffer the Little Children

Then [Elisha] went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, ne`arim came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!" When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in…

by Peter LeithartNovember 23, 1994
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Biblical Chronology

Genesis 5 & 11: Chronological-Theological Reflections (Part 2)

Further Numerical Items of Interest Umberto Cassuto points out some other numerical factors in Genesis 5. 1 For one thing, he observes that every number in Genesis 5 is a multiple of 5, sometimes with the addition of 7. We have, in essence, made this point already. He also points…

by James B. JordanNovember 7, 1994
Biblical Horizons

The Second Word III: Exposition; Implications

Prostration God has designed the human body in a marvelous way, and Biblical religion is very physical. We believe in the resurrection of the body, against all pagan ideas of the immortality of the soul. We bury our bodies, not burning them. Human beings in their totality, including our bodies,…

by James B. JordanOctober 7, 1994
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Revelation

The Last Eight Visions of Revelation

Since Revelation is laid out in serieses of sevens, it is worth investigating to see if there is a series of seven after the seven libation-bowls of chapter 16. I believe there is, and it is the burden of this essay to expose it. The series of sevens, or heptamerous…

by James B. JordanOctober 7, 1994

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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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