Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
We've all heard it, too often to count. The Apostle Paul was a misgynistic homophobic pro-slavery authoritarian, probably a repressed homosexual himself, the first Puritan - Puritan here defined as "someone who cannot sleep if someone in the world is having fun." To call this a caricature is too generous.…
Some of our forefathers believed in reading/singing the psalms in order. Today, when the psalms are even used at all, they tend to be used randomly, though sometimes tied to a church calendar or to the pastor’s sermon. The Bible does not bind us to any particular practice, but there…
". . . and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). Paul’s passing comment about the rock that followed the Israelites in the wilderness has often been treated as a bit of…
The story of Hezekiah’s illness and recovery is familiar to every child who has attended Sunday School. Informed that he would die, faithful King Hezekiah pleaded in tears for a longer life. God heard his prayers and saw his tears, and promised fifteen more years. As a sign that He…
When viewed as an allegory of biblical history, the controversial third act of Danny Boyle’s gripping sci-fi adventure is transformed from an illogical divergence into a blinding revelation. The following analysis contains spoilers for the movie “Sunshine.” The Creation Week is the elementary type that orders everything God has said…
In my last post , I told you the story of my current desire to understand philosopher D.C. Schindler’s metaphysical work. With this post, I start in to the venture. I begin by reflecting on what it is to be a thing. This matter always makes me laugh, and makes…
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3 John 2, 11: Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not…
This is the first Sunday in the traditional season of Lent, and as we enter this season we’ve made some changes in the liturgy. We will not be raising our hands, and we will say rather than sing some of the dialogue between the pastor and congregation. Several of the…
A few minutes ago, you each answered a question I posed to you. I asked you if you would take her as your wife, and whether you would pledge yourself to her as her husband. I asked you whether you would take him as your husband to love and honor…
Thanks to my student Larson Hicks for the substance of this post. Until a command is fully carried out, we don’t have a complete grasp of what the command means or requires of us. “Take Normandy Beach,” solider are told, but that order demands courageous charges, sacrificial death, skillful feints,…
Much as I admire the Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians, I believe they erred when they stripped the church calendar to an annual cycle of fifty-two Sundays. They reduced the rich melody of the earlier calendar to a repetitive ticking of the clock. But the problem actually goes deeper. Israel’s festive…
Paul appears to be describing the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in Colossians 2:11-12. The “stripping of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” refers to the crucifixion of Jesus, which fulfills what the rite of circumcision symbolized - the removal of flesh. What is this…
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