Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Matthew 8-9 records three clusters of miracles, interspersed with snatches of Jesus’ teaching about various aspects of discipleship. Just as the Sermon on the Mount displays the authority of Jesus’ Word in teaching, these chapters display the authority of Jesus’ Word over sickness, uncleanness, the creation, demons, and death. In…
Since the early 1980s, several of the conservative Reformed Churches have debated and wrestled with the issue of paedocommunion (infant communion). The PCA and the OPC assigned study committees to examine the question, both of which produced useful reports both in support of and against the position. Though the debate…
(This issue of Biblical Chronology concludes a discussion of the Biblical and Assyrian chronologies, begun in previous posts. Click on the category link of "Biblical Chronology" above to see previous issues. Did Shalmaneser Know Jehu? Allis writes: "The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser contains, in addition to brief accounts of the…
Movies Movies as an art form have a powerful impact because they take place in a dark room, on a large screen, with no distractions, and because they entail many of the arts: music, acting, choreography, design and color, etc. A movie can be an overwhelming experience for a young…
The Hebrew word translated as "grain offering" or "cereal offering" is minchah . Like the translation of `olah as "burnt offering," the translation of minchah as "grain offering" is somewhat deceiving, since minchah does not refer to grain or cereal. In liturgical contexts outside of Leviticus, in fact, the word…
"He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces" (Leviticus 1:6). The normal word ( `olah ) that is translated as "burnt offering" and "whole burnt offering" has nothing to do with either burning or wholeness. It is the noun form of a verb meaning "to…
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Some of this repeats notes from last week, but then moves beyond. WHAT ABOUT ISRAEL? The ringing affirmations of chapter 8, that those who are in Christ cannot be lost to Christ leads directly into Paul?s discussion of Israel in chapter 9. He is not beginning a new topic. He…
I am indebted to Peter Roise for the following NT Wrightian comments. In the OT, the name “Baal-zebub” occurs only in 2 Kings 1. But the name reappears as a title for Satan in the gospels, when the leaders of Israel accuse Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebul, the…
What’s with all the up-down talk in 2 Kings 1? The Angel of Yahweh sends Elijah to “ascend to call” the messengers/angels of Ahaziah (v. 3), and Elijah’s message is that Ahaziah will never “come down” from the bed where he “ascended” (v. 3). That oracle, including the “come down”…
I’ve posted a number of times on Cusa in the past, and the following builds on notes and outline that I posted in Febrary 2004. NICHOLAS OF CUSA This is a continuation of the earlier essay on Renaissance and modernity. To keep my assessment of the Renaissance under control, and…
The following is a more extensive version of a post from February 2004, under the same title. INTRODUCTION My thesis is developed over against a widespread conception of the Renaissance as the beginning of the modern world, the beginning of secularism and humanism. I am not an uncritical fan of…
For reasons that I’ll detail in a subsequent post, I’m a considerable fan of Nicholas of Cusa. I was unhappy to come across this from William Cavanaugh: “The origin of the modern concept of religion can be seen clearly in the thought of two fifteenth-century Christian Platonist thinkers, Nicholas of…
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