Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In my last essay, we saw how consumer culture has gutted the familial category necessary to understand the church. When a consumer visits a church, he expects another service-provider, such as a hospital or a restaurant. He doesn’t understand the role of men in ministry, and thus, not the role…
First time visitors to our church sometimes express their surprise that children, even the youngest, participate with their parents in the entire worship service. Many congregations created an expectation for the parents (and children) of Sunday School or Child Care being available during the entire worship service or during the…
Quantifying the Love of God “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ~ John 3:16 This most beloved verse in all the Bible was spoken by the Savior himself to Nicodemus. As…
While The Lord’s Prayer enjoys wide recognition throughout the Church, its richness and depth may be unrealized due to a lesser familiarity with, what I will argue is, its primary inspiration: the Tabernacle. There, Christ’s intent can rightly be discerned. The Prayer’s methodological correction to the Jews and Gentiles wasn’t…
The Consumption of the Covenant Idea of the Church Last time we saw consumerism, having canalized its attitudes in our culture, shapes what the consumer sees when he or she steps into a church. Here, we’ll see how it has eviscerated the covenant and familial ideas necessary to understand the…
The ignoble Jayber Crow can stir your appetite for the noble. It’s the simplicity of a good ol’ Port William boy that builds the charm of the book. In fact, the elitists in Port William receive the harshest blows and severest outcomes, as they should. But before delving into the…
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“T he whole of religion is contained in the Sacraments,” Feuerbach says at the beginning of The Essence of Christianity . That is, “there are . . . no other religious acts than those which are performed in Baptism and the Lord's Supper.” This being so, Feuerbach claims that “the…
Laurent Fleury's Sociology of Culture and Cultural Practices is “underpinned” by a conviction that runs counter to the consensus of sociology, especially among those influenced by Pierre Bourdieu. Fleury's conviction is that “there are no simple, univocal links between attitudes developed in childhood and choices, preferences, and practices deployed in…
MD Goulder ( Type and History in Acts ) summarizes the complaints against Luke's history of the early church in Acts: “No student can read Acts without dissatisfaction: he would not have written it thus. Why does it end where it ends? Why is so much space devoted to the…
Nietzche ( AntiChrist ) claims that German philosophy is descended from German theology. Kant's victory is a theological one. Nietzsche's own position, though, is equally theological, a different one. But not that different, because like Kant he's a low church Protestant attacking decadent priestly religion. The priest (section 26) is…
John hears several voices as he sees new Jerusalem descend from heaven like a bride. He hears a loud voice “out of the throne” announcing, in third person, that God has pitched His tent among men (Revelation 21:3-4). Then the one seated on the throne speaks: “Behold new I make…
Francis's I's pastoral exhortation on family life, A moris laetitia , will inevitably, and rightly, be the subject of scrutiny by Catholic theologians and canon lawyers. A great deal is at stake. But it's also important to note, as even hostile commentators have, that the controversial passages are set within…
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