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

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Coronavirus

Does Corona Compassion Kill?

The corona virus hit Western society like a Biblical plague — almost. Biblical plagues were actually much more devastating. Still, as Peter Leithart describes the present situation, it is a judgment from God, because the disease itself together with our political solutions brought about a social situation that fits Deuteronomy’s…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 26, 2020
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Theology

Is Theology Useless?

“The achievements of theologians don’t do anything, don’t affect anything, don’t mean anything. What makes anyone think that ‘theology’ is a subject at all?” - Richard Dawkins One cannot be a Christian college president or seminary trustee (your essayist is both) without wondering if Richard Dawkins’s notorious take-down of theology…

by Alexander WhitakerMay 19, 2020
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How to Worship

How Should Churches Respond to One Another?

Nearly every church that I am aware of has adopted differing practices since the recent virus scare began. Some churches continued to meet during the state lock downs, and other churches left their building empty, meeting online through various video conference technologies. Some churches have gone back to life as…

by Jonah BarnesMay 12, 2020
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Fear

Fear

Fear is an inseparable companion of human life. We are afraid of illness and death, poverty and cataclysms, rejection and betrayal, failure and shame. We are afraid of the unknown, so in a sense we are afraid of the future and life itself. Unless we live in the illusory belief…

by Bogumil JarmulakMay 5, 2020
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Heresy

The Blessing of “Heresies”

In the title above, I put the word “heresies” in quotation marks because I would prefer that the word “heresy” be confined to erroneous beliefs about the Trinity and the Person of Christ, rather than be used broadly to describe any view that might be considered an error. 1 At…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 30, 2020
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Fear

On Coping (or not) with a Crisis

I’ve been trying to work out why I’m feeling existentially disconnected from CoV-19-related fears. I’m taking it seriously, but it’s not registering in any deeply personal way. Partly it’s that my routines are largely undisrupted. But as I reflect on people’s reactions I think there’s more, because a lot of…

by Matthew MasonApril 28, 2020

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Lost

Anything by Ross Douthat is worth reading. In the current issue of First Things , he examines the role of religion in several TV programs - Battlestar Gallactic a, Lost , and The Sopranos . He notes that the island in Lost is a “microcosm of Western modernity (many of…

May 1, 2007

Sermon Notes, Fourth Sunday After Easter

INTRODUCTION Through the Spirit that comes upon Mary, God enters the creation to renew it. In Jesus, God is with His people to save them from their sins. THE TEXT :Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came…

April 30, 2007

Eucharistic meditation, Third Sunday After Easter

Matthew 1:17: So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations. Last week, we noticed that Matthew begins his gospel using the title of the first book of…

April 29, 2007

Exhortation, Third Sunday After Easter

Twice in his genealogy, Matthew refers to “brothers.” Jacob was the father of “Judah and his brothers,” and at the time of the deportation to Babylon “Jeconiah and his brothers” were born to Josiah. This initiates a theme in Matthew’s gospel, the theme of the church as a brotherhood. Alongside…

April 29, 2007

Names

In an article from New Testament Studies on the names in Matthew’s genealogy, Karl-Heinrich Ostmeyer suggests that the names in the last section of the genealogy are predominately priestly names. Thus, the genealogy divides into a patriarchal section, a royal section, and a priestly section, which culminates with Jesus. Further,…

April 29, 2007

Creation narrative

Matthew tells us the story of a new Genesis, a new beginnings story. And then he gives a genealogy that includes 6 weeks of generations (14 x 6 = 6 x 7), and announces the beginning of a seventh week. The history of Israel is numerologically shaped on the model…

April 28, 2007

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