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Writing

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

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Beer

The Wisdom of Drinking Beer with Others

When I wrote my commentary on Ecclesiastes A Table in the Mist I took Eccl. 11:1-2 as a reference to the risk of international trade. It sure did seem to me like a reference to Solomon’s risky trade with other nations. Israel exported grain (bread) and Solomon’s ships returned to…

by Jeff MeyersAugust 14, 2011
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Biblical Horizons

An Alphabetical Psalm

When we read an alphabetical psalm in English, we miss the fact that each verse begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I have found one way to get around this, which is for the leader to announce something relevant about each letter before reading his half of…

by James B. JordanAugust 5, 2011
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Biblical Horizons

Showing the Lord’s Death

How does the Lord’s Supper proclaim the death of Jesus until He comes? (1 Corinthians 11:26). Historically, liturgists have attempted to locate some act in the rite of the Supper that corresponds to the death of Jesus: the fraction (breaking of bread), or the fact that bread and wine are…

by Peter LeithartAugust 5, 2011
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Biblical Horizons

Some Notes on Liturgical Etiquette

These notes are posted here by request. We all now live in the age of slob worship thanks to the “sixties.” I never experienced sitting for prayer until 20 years ago. Jesus was unhappy when His disciples could not watch and pray for one hour. Today’s slob Christians complain if…

by James B. JordanMay 27, 2011
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Biblical Horizons

Thoughts on the Death of bin Laden

On September 11, 2001, Jesus brought judgment upon the United States of America. Following His normal procedure, He used an even more evil force to do it (Habakkuk 1-3). The warning Jesus gives throughout the Bible to those He uses to punish others is that they need to repent, or…

by James B. JordanMay 2, 2011
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American Politics

Hypocrisy, Phariseeism, the Left, and Obama

Because of Donald Trump, the “Birther” issue is heating up. It is not going away, and is only part of a larger cluster of issues in regard to the President. Virtually all of the relevant documents concerning who he is and where he has been, have been suppressed, at great…

by Richard BledsoeApril 3, 2011

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Philosophy

Shaftesbury’s Natural Self

Lori Branch describes the paradoxical pursuit of “natural” self in Shaftesbury’s private “Exercises.” It is not a pretty sight. He seeks integrity in unified affections, but this unity is achieved only at the cost of dismemberment: “In search of the natural self, Shaftesbury imagines himself with clothing removed and even…

January 18, 2007
Philosophy

Shaftesbury’s Natural Self

Lori Branch describes the paradoxical pursuit of “natural” self in Shaftesbury’s private “Exercises.” It is not a pretty sight. He seeks integrity in unified affections, but this unity is achieved only at the cost of dismemberment: “In search of the natural self, Shaftesbury imagines himself with clothing removed and even…

January 18, 2007
History

Secularism and suffering

Talal Asad suggests that secularism assumes that human beings live and choose on the basis of a “calculus of pleasure and pain.” Pain is unredeemable, and so secularism can respond to suffering only by trying to minimize it - soothing it with drugs, distracting through narcotic entertainment, reducing risk through…

January 18, 2007

Chiasm in 1 John 4

1 John 4:12-17 is organized as a chiasm: A. No one beheld God, 12a B. Mutual love, God abides, love perfected, 12b C. Abiding in God, He in us, 13 D. Bear witness to the Savior, 14 D’. Confessing that Jesus is Son, 15a C’. God abides in him, he…

January 17, 2007
Theology

Why Study Rosenstock-Huessy

Following are some notes from a lecture on Rosenstock-Huessy, the first session of a class on his work. The scope of his life work is amazing. He wrote on language, religion and the Bible, calendars, time, grammar, a massive and detailed history of the Western world, but he was trained…

January 17, 2007
Literature

Himmelfarb on Hard Times

Gertrude Himmelfarb has an excellent discussion of Hard Times in her book on poverty in the Victorian era. Below are some highlights. As Himmelfarb sees things, the problem in Coketown is not the factory but the way the factory spreads throughout, and shapes, the town. Himmelfarb: “Everything [in Coketown] is…

January 16, 2007

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