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

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The Lady and Her Jewels: An Epiphany Meditation

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery (Revelation 12:1-2). Then Joshua spoke…

by Richard BledsoeJanuary 6, 2015
extreme-unction
Anointing

Fattening Our Suffering

In his post asking Ought we Anoint the Dying? Peter Leithart makes an excellent and important point about our suffering as members of Christ. However, he only parenthetically mentions that the verb in question in James 5 is not chrio but aleipho . By assuming that these words are interchangeable,…

by Robert MaddoxDecember 30, 2014
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James

Death as Frenemy

We spend a lot of time in the church talking about what it means to live like a Christian. But what does it mean to die like a Christian? If we are to follow Christ in life, what does it mean for us to follow him in death as well?…

by Rich LuskDecember 23, 2014
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Literature

Was Shakespeare A Christian?

How would one go about answering the question posed by my title? That depends on what the question means. Obviously, different definitions of the question would require different approaches to an answer. Right off hand, I can think of at least three possible — though not necessarily mutually exclusive —…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 23, 2014
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American Culture

Phobophobia

In recent weeks and months, we have seen events that are not the event. The drama around these events is not the events themselves, but the anxiety about the events, and then even the anxiety about the anxiety about the events. That is the real event. The events in Ferguson,…

by Richard BledsoeDecember 22, 2014
anointing-david
Anointing

Ought We Anoint the Dying?

Anointing the sick, including the dying, is one of the traditional seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. The Reformers denied that the rite qualified as a sacrament. Formally, this was because anointing did not have a direct authorization from Jesus; more theologically, it was not one of the marks that…

by Peter LeithartDecember 18, 2014

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Shaking the Church

The church has not been a static entity, nor has the church's history been one of smooth organic growth. There are many continuities from Jesus and the apostles to the present, but there have been regular disruptions along the way, disruptions that radically changed the church's relation to the world…

March 9, 2015

With the Lamb

John sees the Lamb surrounded by the 144,000 that were sealed on the forehead (Revelation 14:1). The company of the Lamb stands in contrast to the company of the beast. The worshipers of the beast were marked on the hand and the forehead, and the 144,000 are sealed on the…

March 9, 2015

Joyce's Sexual Revolution

Critics have offered wildly different assessments of the role of sex in the fiction of James Joyce. On the one hand, many hostile critics his work, especially Ulysses , attack him for obscenity and indecency. They regard sex as one of the main themes of Joyce’s work. This is often…

March 9, 2015

Tale of Two Cities?

Sociologists working from various theoretical and political perspectives have worried that American society is fragmenting into two separate worlds. Our cities aren't single anymore. Cities are dual, and the tale of late modernity is a tale of two cities. Jock Young ( Vertigo of Late Modernity ) isn't convinced. He…

March 6, 2015

By Flesh and Blood

“You who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ,” Paul tells the Gentile Ephesians (2:13). Jesus' blood is the sacrificial blood that makes a way of approach to God. “He Himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall by…

March 6, 2015

Sentenced to Drink

In an oracle against Edom, Jeremiah warns that the guilty will be sentenced to drink: “Behold, those who were not sentenced to drink the cup will certainly drink, and are you the one who will be completely acquitted? You will not be acquitted, but you will certainly drink it” (Jeremiah…

March 5, 2015

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