Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The idea of atonement is not a distinctly Christian, or even Hebraic, concept. It also makes an appearance in ancient Greek thought (among other places). The Greek tradition is by no means monolithic, so it isn’t possible to speak of a “Greek” concept of atonement. But there are certain commonalities…
As we know, there are seven deadly or capital sins. Prior to the list of the seven deadly sins there was a list of eight evil thoughts or demons. It was made by an Eastern monk, Evagrius Ponticus. When the list was transposed to the West, one evil thought was…
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is one of those epistles in Scripture to which pastors and teachers resort to show the church everything that it shouldn’t be . There is, of course, good reason for this. The Corinthian church was filled with all sorts of problems. Personality cults (i.e., factions),…
Today is Ash Wednesday , and as many Christians of the Protestant formerly "low church" persuasion are reacquiring some of the good and ancient practices of the church, one question in particular comes to the front: to ash or not to ash? That is, while many of us are finding…
A murder of tweets. To observe Lent rightly, we have to be persuaded that we already stand in God’s favor. Ash Wednesday reminds us to number our days. It helps us gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). We keep Easter to manifest and deepen our prior share in resurrection.…
Dale C. Allison, Jr., The New Moses: A Matthean Typology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993). Dale Allison 1993 book is a superb case study in the New Testament's use of the Old. Though he focuses on only a single typology (Christ as a new Moses) in only a single gospel (Matthew), Allison's…
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From the first moments of the creation, the Spirit of God has been working in the world to enliven and move it. As soon as there is a heaven and earth, the Spirit of God hovers over the formless emptiness of the waters, bringing light and order and moving the…
To many Americans, Christians complaining about our culture sound whiny, self-interested, and sectarian. We yell, “Fire! Cultural conflagration!” Our unbelieving neighbors sniff and wonder why they can’t smell smoke. To their ears, our critiques of culture take this form: Christians used to be in charge; we aren’t anymore; we’d like…
John's gospel differs in many ways from the three “synoptic” gospels. John begins with the majestic prologue that has no analogy in the other gospels. He never once hints that Jesus is an exorcist, he records Jesus' many visits to Jerusalem, he places the cleansing of the temple early in…
Early twentieth-century Spain is often characterized as Catholic-conservative, repressive, backward. In Cultures of the Erotic in Spain, 1898-1939 , UCLA's Maite Zubiaurre introduces “the ‘other' early twentieth-century Spain— sparkling, dynamic, uninhibited, freed from tradition, happily oblivious to sexual constraints and gender norms, so radically different from the somber, identity-searching country…
Jesus is the “living one” (Revelation 1:18). He doesn't mean that He has always been. He is the living one in the sense that He has been through the chiasm of death to life: A. and I became ( egenomen ) B. dead C. and behold B'. alive A'. I…
Jane Austen's Emma is centrally concerned with character formation and guidance. Rich, beautiful, independent, Emma Woodhouse has no one to shepherd her. Her father is too frail, and everyone else in Hughbury too intimidated. She doesn't think she needs to be shepherded, and instead spends her time meddling with other…
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