Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21). James hooks the different sections of his epistle together by using the same or a similar word at the close of one section and…
Deuteronomy 8 is organized as a new chiasm: A. Remember and do commandments, 8:1-2 B. Manna and clothing in the wilderness, 8:3-4 C. Know in your heart that Yahweh disciplined you, 8:5-6 D. The good land, 8:7-10 C'. Do not be proud in heart, 8:11-14 B'. Manna and water, 8:15-17…
Should we use the category of "nature" in our theology? Start, as ever, with some Bible-thumpin': If someone were to construct a "metaphysics" or view of reality from the Bible alone, the category of nature would not be a prominent one. Here and there, the Bible uses this word and…
The doctrine of the Trinity is woven into our worship every week. We are called to worship in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We confess the Trinity in the Nicene Creed. We are blessed in the Name of the Trinity. Pervasive as it is, the…
Eight students from five states and seven different churches attended the Trinity Term course, our first intensive course for the 2014-15 year. Two pastors were in the class, along with five pastoral students and one layman. James Jordan lectured through the book of Genesis, and Peter Leithart added several lectures…
The world seems to be coming apart at the seams. A jihadist uploads a video showing an American journalist being beheaded. Ferguson, Missouri, endures night after night of demonstrations that turn into vandalism. Russia is meddling with Ukraine, ISIS is on the move in the Middle East, illegal immigrants (we're…
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W hat is the thrust of the argument in Romans 4? Is Paul mainly concerned to present Abraham as an example of individual belief and trust in God? Or is the argument mainly about Abraham as father of both Jews and Gentiles? Is Abraham's faith presented as the means by…
A ttacked by his enemies, David cries out, asking God to judge. He prays for favorable judgment for himself, or, in Pauline terminology, for justification. In the Psalms, justification is a drama that has a consistent shape—threat, anguished protest and prayer, God's intervention, rescue and punishment, rejoicing. I have examined…
F rom Whitman's Preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass : The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth, have probably the fullest poetical nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem. In the history of the earth hitherto the largest and most…
I n what context does “justification” fit? Does the word describe what happens to sinners when they are restored to the favor of God in their individual experience? Or is it instead, or also, a description of something that happened in the life-history of Jesus, as He lives a life…
L ike many Americans, I've spent an inordinate proportion of the past two years thinking about Donald Trump. I've written more about the 2016 Presidential election than about any other political event in my lifetime. Recently, someone said he thought I was a Trump supporter. That surprised me, but on…
L uke Bretherton argues ( Christianity, Democracy and the Shadow of Constantine ) that “For the church, listening is the constitutive political act” (71). This is true in part because “Through listening and responding to the Word of God, the Church is assembled as a public body—the ekklesia —out of…
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