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

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Biblical Horizons

Fun Reading

The name of Harry Turtledove is well known to readers of fantasy and science fiction. Turtledove is an historian, and most of what he writes is in the "alternative history" genre. A fine collection of short stories, available in paperback, is his Agent of Byzantium . These stories are set…

by James B. JordanAugust 28, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

Concerning Unicorns

In answer to a question, the following about the unicorn, a supposed "New Age" symbol: The unicorn, or monoceros (one-horn), was known around the ancient world. Some scholars believe it may have been the one-horned goat that is still bred today. Others think it may have originated in tales of…

by James B. JordanAugust 28, 1996
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Esther

Esther: Historical & Chronological Comments (VI)

3. A Brief Survey of Esther (continued from the previous issue) Haman told the king that "a certain people" were rebellious against him, and that Haman wanted to rid the king of their noxious presence. The king agreed, and the two sat down to a feast. This is the third…

by James B. JordanAugust 28, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

Concerning Halloween

It has become routine in October for some Christian schools to send out letters warning parents about the evils of Halloween, and it has become equally routine for me to be asked questions about this matter. "Halloween" is simply a contraction for All Hallows’ Eve. The word "hallow" means "saint,"…

by James B. JordanAugust 28, 1996
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Esther

Esther: Historical & Chronological Comments (V)

2. The Setting of the Book of Esther (continued from previous issue) Astyages E. W. Faulstich presents his arguments in his book History, Harmony, The Exile & Return . 1 To understand it, we have to have some background. The Assyrians ruled the near east. Median king Cyaxeres decided to…

by James B. JordanJuly 28, 1996
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Revelation

Jephthah’s Daughter

In my commentary on Judges, I demonstrated that Jephthah in his Spirit-led vow intended to offer to Yahweh the first person who greeted him from the doors of his house after the battle. Since it was a custom for the young women to come out dancing to greet the returning…

by James B. JordanJune 28, 1996

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Gethsemane

The word “Gethsemane” means “wine-press of oil.” It’s built from the same Hebrew root as Gath-Hepher, “the wine-press of the well,” a city in the tribal area of Zebulun, the birthplace of Jonah, and Gath-Rimmon, the “wine-press of the pomegranate,” a town in Dan. One of the five cities of…

March 8, 2016

Barth on Economy and Ontology

God is, Barth repeatedly insists, as He reveals Himself. But Barth also hesitates about reading the relations expressed in the economic Trinity into the ontological Trinity ( Church Dogmatics , I.1, ch. 10). The relations as revealed are comprehensible, but these relations as revealed, precisely insofar as they are comprehensible,…

March 8, 2016

Campus Life in the Sixties

When Ewa Thompson joined the Indiana University faculty in 1968 as an assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature, Vietnam War protests were at their peak. A native of Poland, Thompson could not understand why Americans didn't unite against the Communists in Vietnam. Her first-hand experience with Communism, and…

March 8, 2016

Death of American Entrepreneur?

David Goldman reports that “From 1977 t0 2005, business startups accounted for almost all economic growth and all net job creation. Established firms shrank and new firms grew. After the Great Recession of 2008, the opposite occurred: established firms accounted for all the recovery in employment, and startups contributed nothing…

March 7, 2016

In the Olive Grove

The Mount of Olives is mentioned by name only twice in the Old Testament, and once it is alluded to as the “mountain east of Jerusalem.” When David abandons Jerusalem during the rebellion of Absalom, he travels east to the Mount of Olives, and then into the wilderness (2 Samuel…

March 7, 2016

Christ and Election

According to Barth, when the decree loses its Christological focus, a gap emerges between a fundamental decree regarding predestination and reprobation and the “functional” decree to save in Christ. Christ becomes an instrument for carrying out that more basic decree, but He is not identified with the content of that…

March 7, 2016

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