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Writing

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

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Biblical Studies

Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones

[This essay was originally published in 1988. Given the situation that our new national socialists are getting the world into, I thought it might be useful to reprint it here. – JBJordan] The Bible has quite a bit to say about gold, silver, and precious stones, and the Bible always…

by James B. JordanMay 19, 2009
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Biblical Horizons

The Pastoral Function

I wrote this elsewhere and was encouraged to put it here. It is a comment on what a pastor is. Today, this is not very well understood, and God’s people suffer because of it. There are four professions: medicine, education, law, and religion. Each of these, when done at a…

by James B. JordanMay 17, 2009
Biblical Horizons

The Virgin Tomb: The Womb of the New Birth

James Jordan recently pointed out in private conversation how appropriate it is, in John’s Gospel, that Nicodemus is present both to ask Jesus about being born again, and to see Jesus re-enter the womb of the mother. Nicodemus rhetorically asks, “How can a man be born when he is old?…

by Mark HorneMay 8, 2009
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Romans

Romans 7

This is a problematic and much discussed passage. I’ve been discussing it in another forum, and have decided to move it here and present some very preliminary observations about it. One large question is this: Who is the speaker here and what is his situation? Traditionally, the speaker is seen…

by James B. JordanApril 19, 2009
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Biblical Horizons

Good New Sci-Fi

1. The current issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction includes a good fantasy novella by John C. Wright, who since his conversion has been writing Christianly. This is a fine fantasy with nods to C. S. Lewis and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and probably Gene Wolfe as well.…

by James B. JordanApril 15, 2009
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American Culture

The Name of Jesus

“It is an experience of our days that the spoken name of Jesus alone exercises an unforeseen power; and the effort which it cost to speak this name is perhaps connected to some faint apprehension of the power which is inherent within it. Wherever the name of Jesus Christ is…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 20, 2009

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Individuality and Communion

TF Torrance ( The Christian Doctrine of God ) writes that “Human beings do not exist within one another, but this is precisely what the divine Persons of the Holy Trinity do.” A page later he explained that since the Persons dwell in and with one another so intimately, “their…

September 4, 2006

Eucharistic meditation

Revelation 16:4-6: Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying: You are righteous, O Lord, the One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have…

September 3, 2006

Exhortation

These comments are thoroughly indebted to James Jordan. Every week, God invites us to His house and serves us, so we come here to be refreshed by the Word and Sacrament. His is a house of praise, so we also come together to offer Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving. But…

September 3, 2006

Imprecatory Prayer

Are imprecatory prayers appropriate for the children of Abraham? If so, then they are appropriate for us, for Paul says in Galatians that we are all “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” and that if we “belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.”…

September 3, 2006

Speech and Sacrifice

Proverbs 15:26 contrasts plans that are “abominable” to Yahweh with words that are “pure.” Both terms are borrowed from the Levitical system, and suggest that speech and plans are always a form of sacrifice. There is a vertical dimension to all our talk, and God either spits our words from…

September 3, 2006

House of the Proud

Proverbs 15:25 warns that “Yahweh will tear down the house of the proud” and promises “He will establish the boundary of the widow.” Though this proverb does apply to any proud man’s house and posterity, it has, coming from the pen of Solomon the temple-builder, specific reference to the Lord’s…

September 2, 2006

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