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

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Romans

Robbing Temples

Paul writes to Jews, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:22b) The English translation “rob temples” makes readers think of pagan temples. There was only one Temple for Israel, so robbing more than one would indicate other temples are in view. And if the Jews wanted to…

by Mark HorneOctober 15, 2024
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Genesis

Regarding Abel’s Offering

Two offerings Humanity’s first vocation involves guarding and serving the trees that emerge from the ground (Genesis 2:15). God provides these trees to humanity for food. A serpent appears and tempts the couple to eat from a special forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Humanity…

by Scott FairbanksOctober 3, 2024
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Hermeneutics

The Trinity and Cross in Creation

At the outset of the Torah (as Christians understand it), a triune God creates the heavens and earth over the course of a seven-day week. Why? What’s the connection between the three and the seven? Could a triune God have created the world over any period of time he chose?…

by James BejonOctober 1, 2024
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Deuteronomy

Axe Heads and Parapets: Legal Edge Cases?

How relevant to the modern reader are the flying axe head of Deuteronomy 19:5 and the roof parapet of Deuteronomy 22:8? Indeed, how relevant were they to the daily lives of Israelites thirty-five hundred years ago? Suppose that accidental falls from rooftops were exceedingly uncommon in ancient Israel, or that…

by Josh JensenSeptember 24, 2024
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Political Theology

The Church Builds the World

1 For most of my life, the standing of the American church as a source of national social and political order was measured by reports from the front of the so-called “culture wars.” 2 Memory brings to mind battles over feminism and the ERA, so-called gay rights, the breakdown of…

by Gary YoungSeptember 17, 2024
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Matthew

That He would be called a Nazarene

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel…’ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the…

by Lyndon JostSeptember 10, 2024

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Augustine on “Visible-Invisible Church”

In another talk at the Augustine seminar, a Princeton grad student provocatively claims that Augustine never used the “visible-invisible church” distinction. Admittedly, Augustine has some elements of that distinction, and he was read by the Reformers as supporting the Protestant view. But Augustine never uses the terminology (so far as…

November 23, 2003

Augustine on “Visible-Invisible Church”

In another talk at the Augustine seminar, a Princeton grad student provocatively claims that Augustine never used the “visible-invisible church” distinction. Admittedly, Augustine has some elements of that distinction, and he was read by the Reformers as supporting the Protestant view. But Augustine never uses the terminology (so far as…

November 23, 2003
Theology

Contemporary Readings of Augustine

Jamie Smith of Calvin College gave an excellent talk on contemporary readings of Augustine, focusing on the Augustine of Derrida, Caputo, and Ward. According to Smith, Derrida and Caputo have some “formal” or “structural” affinities with Augustine (eg, love is the driving force of religion), but lack any criteria for…

November 23, 2003

Cornel West

I keep seeing Cornel West at AAR seminars. I recognize him from The Matrix Reloaded . I keep wanting to ask him what Keanu is REALLY like, but haven’t mustered the courage.

November 23, 2003

Tabernacle in Exodus

Ross Blackburn, a grad student at St Andrews University, presented a good paper on the tabernacle in the context of Exodus. He sees the theological unity of Exodus contained in YHWH’s insistence on pursuing and defending His own honor not only to Israel but before the nations. The plagues are…

November 20, 2003

Grentz on Imago Dei

Stanley Grentz presented a paper on the imago Dei as a Christological title, and along the way offered some observations on the relation of anthropology and Christology. One of the most revealing things he said was that when imago Dei is confined to anthropology (as it often is in evangelical…

November 20, 2003

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