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Writing

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

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Biblical Theology

Look to the Birds

The Bible reader that is mindful of patterns, is aware of the creation markers of Noah's flood. The Earth is deformed and is made into a ball of water, which then is made new with new promises and obligations to the New Adam (Noah) and his offspring. One of the…

by Matthew CoreyOctober 12, 2021
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Art

The Ethical Nude

Exposing Nakedness “Picasso did not paint for the eyes but for the gut. He painted for the gut that the eyes might be opened.” I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces. (Job 16:12) One only has to…

by Mike BullOctober 5, 2021
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Coronavirus

A Modest Proposal

For preventing the unvaccinated people in Mississippi from being a burden on their friends, teachers, or waiters, and for making them beneficial to the public. Dr. Jonathan Swift It is a melancholy object to those who walk through a great southern college town, or travel throughout Mississippi, when they see…

by Jonathan BarlowSeptember 28, 2021
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Coronavirus

The COVID Regime as Stoicheic Order

Throughout the world, governments are aggressively pushing COVID vaccines. Some have instituted mandates or vaccine passports. Many are losing patience with the unvaccinated, even proposing that they have forfeited the right to certain health services . The unvaccinated have become deplorables—the undeserving sick. This COVID regime has been bolstered by…

by James WoodSeptember 21, 2021
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Biblical Chronology

Groping Through the Gaps

Although nowadays gap theories are associated with dispensationalism, it was not always so. In the nineteenth century, scholars from a variety of backgrounds (Anglican, Reformed, and proto-fundamentalist) seem to have become fascinated by gaps. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, this piece will acquaint you…

by James B. JordanSeptember 14, 2021
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Biblical Studies

Snakes and Ladders

What kind of father gives his son a stone when he asks for bread, or a serpent when he asks for a fish? The answer is, the Heavenly Father! Jesus rarely stated the obvious, and this particular question in His Sermon on the Mount concerning the fatherhood of God is…

by Mike BullSeptember 7, 2021

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Wasted love

Richard of St. Victor presents an argument for the Trinity that starts with human love. Self-love is not the highest form of love; perfected love is self-transcending love, and ultimately the love of two directed toward a third, who returns love. A God who is love must therefore be Triune.…

October 6, 2007

Essentialist and personalist

Western Trinitarian theology develops from Augustine, but because Augustine is complex the Western tradition develops along different - equally Augustinian - pathways. That is the argument of Dennis Ngien’s 2005 study of the filioque in medieval theology. Anselm, he says, develops the “essentialist” aspect of Augustine’s doctrine, starting with the…

October 6, 2007

Paul as Job

Richard Hays has pointed to Job allusions in various writings of Paul. One of these occurs in 2 Timothy 1:12: “I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have…

October 6, 2007

Notes on Isaiah 61

A number of these thoughts were suggested by students during exams during the last week. I can’t remember now who said what, but thanks to them all. 1) Isaiah 61 begins with a declaration of the Spirit, and ends with a reference to a garden. That suggests the possibility that…

October 5, 2007
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Baptism in the CRC, again

John Barach writes concerning the prayer for infant baptism I posted earlier today: “that is the standard Reformed baptismal form which was probably written by Petrus Dathenus in the 16th century and adopted by the Synod of Dort. That’s also the same form that’s used for baptism in the Canadian…

October 4, 2007

Baptism in the CRC

CRC Pastor Raymond Coffey responded to my post on the 1959 baptismal rite with this comment: “Your notes were right on from the 1959 hymnal. Apart from updating and compressing some language, there are several significant differences between the 1959 Edition and the current one. The most significant is the…

October 3, 2007

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