Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Place names become fraught with meaning by association with people and events. The name “Wittenberg” calls to mind Luther and the Reformation for Protestants and Catholics alike. Geneva has a wider range of associations, but the Reformation Wall, with its four main statues of William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza,…
“…a mystery without a solution, a horror story without savagery, a nightmare in which all the watches stop at noonday…” The Bestial Gardens of Men Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” (Luke 23:30) The following lines by Edgar Allan Poe,…
2 Samuel 11-12, which record David’s sin with Bathsheba and its aftermath, is structured chiastically: This arrangement highlights several things about the episode. It reinforces what is obvious from even a casual reading, that the transition in the story occurs with Nathan’s confrontation of David’s sin and David’s confession. Up…
Medieval bestiaries are packed with quaintly inaccurate information about animals, birds, and other created things. Foxes and snakes are devilish critters; stags, pelicans and elephants are Christlike in their various ways. Of course, the medievals picked this up from the Bible, where bestiary observations are fairly common. “Go to the…
What do Reformational Catholicism and craft beer have in common? The question seems to beg for a punchline. Better yet, it would be pretty good clickbait for an article on Katharina von Bora’s “spirited” contribution that helped spark the Protestant Reformation. Well, this is no joke and I am certainly…
Suffering Defined Suffering happens. We witness it all around us and experience it in our lives. It often comes from forces beyond our control. Suffering is inscrutable; it strikes unexpectedly, on a bright summer day or a cold winter night. We lament and are bewildered by suffering. But we are…
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Jesus’ disciples are salt and light. The salt is low, on the earth; the light is set up high on a lamp, so it can light the house. James Jordan has pointed out the connection with earth (salt) and heaven (light), and this links also to the Abrahamic promise of…
Jesus preaches the sermon to multitudes that gather for healing and to hear the gospel. They come from every point of the compass. Jesus has gone about “all Galilee,” and the crowds come to Galilee from all over the land - from the transJordan (including Syria, 4:24), from the South…
In the third of his five theological orations, Gregory Nazianzus mounts a reductio against latter-day Arians: “Solve me one more riddle. Were you present at your own generation, and are you now present to yourself, or is neither the case? If you were and are present, who were you, and…
By definition, justification must be by grace. Since the eyes are organs of judgment in Scripture, to find “favor in one’s eyes” is to be justified. Plus, “favor” just means “grace.” We can put it more strongly: Justified by grace is redundant, since “justified” means “grace in one’s eyes.”
Saul sends three sets of men to capture David. As they approach, the Spirit falls on them and they prophesy. Mission unaccomplished. Ahaziah sends three sets of men to capture Elijah. As they approach, fire falls on them and they burn up - until the captain of the last group…
Europeans saw the conquest of the Americas as a new Canaanite conquest. Once they subdued the land, what else would they do but build a temple. According to Hamblin and Seely, “Spanish missionary Toribio de Motolinia (d. 1568), for example, described the colonization and evangelization of New Spain (Mexico) as…
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