Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
And He cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when He had cried out, the seven thunders spoke their voices (Revelation 10:3). In Revelation 10 John sees Jesus come down to him from heaven with a little book in His hand. Jesus cries out with…
The numbers found in Genesis 5 & 11 display characteristics that indicate a complex and meticulous symbolic schematization operating at several levels. Because these numbers are so potent symbolically, unbelieving scholars have universally (as far as I know) treated them as artificial. Believers take them literally, but believers must also…
And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the east [sunrising]. (Revelation 16:12) The kings from the east in Revelation 16:12 are generally assumed to be enemies of…
During my brief sojourn as a pastor during the 1980s, I had several occasions to be involved in settling disputes between men in the congregation I served. A typical dispute went like this: Two men formed a company to do business. After a few years, the business went sour, and…
The two harvests of Revelation 14:14-20, of grain and of grapes, are most often understood as symbolic of God’s judgment against the wicked, or against Babylon, as amplified in chapters 16 & 17. Some commentators, however, notice that the gospels speak of the grain harvest as a reaping of the…
(Conclusion of Chapter 16 in the previous Biblical Chronology Article) Month 3, 2513 According to Leviticus 23:15-16, Pentecost was to be observed 50 days after the sabbath after Passover, or 49 days after the Feast of First Fruits. I initially based my reflections on the Jewish tradition that the Law…
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There are strange doings in the Reformed world these days. One of the strangest I’ve come across recently are comments from one Reformed elder who complained that NT Wright’s views on justification were introducing a new Romanism. According to this writer, it is no defense of Wright to point out…
Since I’ve said some favorable things about Virginia Postrel’s The Substance of Style , I should mention Anne Hollander’s very smart review in the December 22 TNR . Hollander is, after all, far better qualified than I to speak on matters of taste and fashion. One of Hollander’s essential points…
James Wood has an intriguing and self-revealing review of new translations of Leon Battista Alberti’s Momus and Erasmus’s The Praise of Folly in the December 22 issue of The New Republic . He begins with a contrast between antique comedy, which is “comedy of correction” and “modern” comedy, which is…
Why music? Well, for instance: What I want my life to be is better expressed by a 2-minute segment the Canzona of Beethoven’s A minor string quartet than by any words I could ever speak or write, expressed all at once in multiple registers and nuances. To say it all…
Graham Ward, writing about the “displaced body of Jesus,” argues that “none of us has access to bodies as such, only to bodies that are mediated through the giving and receiving of signs.” To which I want to say, Hmmm. On the one hand, I want to agree that our…
The current issue of Semeia (#45) is devoted to “New Testament Masculinities,” and is a contribution to the growing academic study of masculinity. Jerome Neyrey has an interesting article here on Jesus’ masculinity in the gospel of Matthew. Two of his conclusions are particularly noteworthy: 1) “Matthew rarely locates [Jesus]…
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