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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 6

10. Do not slander [tattle on] a slave to his master, Lest he curse [denounce] you and you be found guilty. The Sojourner of Proverbs 30 is a humble man. He makes this clear in verses 2-4, where he says that he is stupider than anyone else on earth, but…

by James B. JordanMay 2, 1990
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Biblical Horizons

An Old Debate Revisited

In retrospect and at first glance, many of the issues that have plagued and divided the Church seem incredibly trivial. The Quartodecimians were branded as heretics for celebrating Easter on 14 Nisan. One of the issues that divided the Eastern and Western Churches in 1054 was the kind of bread…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Advent

Gold, Incense, and Myrrh

The gifts of the wise men have been commonly interpreted as royal gifts to the infant King of the Jews. Each of the three gifts is, indeed, connected with kings and kingship in Scripture. The Lord’s anointed is pictured wearing a crown of gold in Psalm 21:3, and the gold…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Biblical Studies

Why Should I Join A Church?

The Church is not in good shape. Nearly every week we hear about another prominent Christian leader who has fallen into scandalous sin. Many shepherds feed their flocks a diet of baby food, if not outright poison. Few Churches celebrate the Lord’s Supper regularly, and few Christians appreciate its importance.…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 5

Two things I asked of Thee, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and words of falsehood far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches, Feed me with the food that it my portion, Lest I be full and deny Thee, And say, "Who is the LORD?"…

by James B. JordanApril 2, 1990
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Biblical Studies

Joseph, the Righteous Husband

During the Middle Ages, Joseph, the husband of Mary, was the butt of many jokes. Medieval theater and art often depicted him as something of a buffoon, decidedly marginal to the gospel story. In part, this was the unfortunate obverse of the exaltation of Mary; any man would suffer by…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1990

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Ideology of the Picturesque

In The Historical Austen , William Galperin notes that Austen understood that certain kinds of realistic art or aesthetics could naturalize and “realize” what is really only an ideological construct. And he notes the somewhat surprising political ramifications of such aesthetic theories. He points to the theory of the picturesque,…

August 11, 2007

Root of bitterness

Watch that no root of bitterness grow up, Hebrews 12:15 warns. What’s a root of bitterness? Sounds like someone who’s bitter in the church. But Deuteronomy 29:18 uses a similar phrase to describe those who turn aside from Yahweh to serve other gods. This fits the context of Hebrews very…

August 9, 2007

Cursed joylessness

Yahweh curses Israel for breaking covenant. More specifically, Israel will become a sign and wonder to the nations “because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things” (Deuteronomy 28:47). What satisfies God is not just obedience, but joyful obedience.

August 9, 2007
Literature

Austen and the Stuarts

In her history of England, written at 15, Austen declares her favor toward the Stuart dynasty. She writes comically, but beneath the fun she is in earnest. Irene Collins notes that her mother, Cassandra Leigh “liked to remember that her ancestor Thomas Leigh had received a baronetcy for welcoming Charles…

August 7, 2007
Literature

Jane Austen and the Presbyterians

Austen was a life-long Anglican, born to a C of E clergyman, with many C of E ministers in her extended family and ancestry and circle of acquaintances. Irene Collins notes, “Her maternal grandfather and her great uncle had been clergymen; so were her godfather, one of her uncles, two…

August 7, 2007
Literature

Christian politeness

Vicesimus Knox (1752 - 1821) - English minister, essayist, and campaigner for the end of war - was educated at St. John’s Oxford, where George Austen (1731-1805), Jane’s father, was a student and tutor in classics, and Knox later became Headmaster of Tonbridge School, which George Austen had attended as…

August 7, 2007

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