Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Book of Genesis contains eleven distinct markers readily acknowledged as the toledot formula. 1 Commentator Nahum Sarna counts the ’elleh toledot to be “…one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Book of Genesis”. 2 Among translations, the noun is variously translated as “generations” (ESV, KJV), “records of the generations”…
The answer that immediately comes to mind to the question in the title is Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah. He was conceived during the extension of life that God granted Hezekiah in response to his ardent prayer on his sick bed (2 Kings 20:1-11, 21:1). His reign is summarized in…
Back in 2019, on a whim, I sketched out a setting for a modern fantasy story: a single coffee shop that is simultaneously present in multiple cities throughout the world: “...you know the one. Books by local authors, brochures for a walking tour of the city’s outdoor sculpture, a poetry…
Peter O’Brien’s translation of Colossians 4:2 surprised me: “Persevere in prayer as you watch for the Lord’s return, and be thankful.” 1 What is surprising about that? Well, none of my English translations mentioned “the Lord’s return” — nor does the Greek text! Translated literally, the verse just says: “In…
I Natural Law This is a brief (well, briefer than it could be) first attempt at responding to a very small section of Stephen Wolfe’s recent book The Case for Christian Nationalism . It’s partial, deeply incomplete, and does not at all address the book as a whole; it is…
The scuttlebutt of the last hundred years would tell us that Albert Einstein was a horrible husband, Winston Churchill was a racist, Mother Theresa was a hypocrite, and Caravaggio a murderer. From Benjamin Britten’s boys to Gandhi’s girls, it can be depressing and confusing to hear about people of great…
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Part 2: A Dogmatica Minora Section 1: Trinity Hart ended the previous section emphasizing that Christianity offers a story of the infinite that is also, contrary to all paganism, a story of beauty. To fill out this Christian narrative of infinite beauty, Hart focuses on the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed as ?the…
Now Yhoram son of ‘Achav reigned-as-king over Yisrael in Shimron in the year, the 18th, to Yhoshafat king of Yehudah. And he reigned-as-king two and ten years. And he did the evil in the eyes of Yahweh only not as his father and as his mother. And he caused-to-turn-aside the…
In 2 Kings 2, Elisha heals a “barren land,” a land described as “causing miscarriage” or as “abortive” itself. The land is mother, and the new “father” of the prophets sows salt to heal the land and make it fruitful. 2 Kings 3 picks up on this mother-land analogy. Elisha…
Jehoram goes out into the wilderness with Jehoshaphat, and as soon as he encounters a bit of difficulty, he crumples, blaming his bad fortune on Yahweh’s perfidy: “Yahweh has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” He had a good teacher: When Ahab received the…
Jehoram the son of Ahab wants to suppress the rebellion of Mesha, king of Moab (2 Kings 3). He gains the support of Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom, and then marches into the wilderness. They “go around” seven days and then find there is no water. Jehoshaphat, typically, asks…
In his treatise on the resurrection of the flesh, Tertullian makes an intriguing connection between the phenomenology of baptism and the resurrection of the body. Baptism, he points out, is a corporeal rite, and this washing of the body points ot a resurrection of the body: “unless it were a…
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