Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Where do we go from here? Depending on one’s perspective, the American story can plausibly be interpreted in different ways. Looked at from past to present , we can see a great deal of continuity from medieval Christendom and the Reformation to America’s founding. The War for Independence, after all,…
Click HERE for Part 1 Civic Religion: American or Christian? We have already traced out the basic contours of the shift in America from an ecclesiocentric, theocratic social order to a secular one. Building on Locke and Hobbes, the Enlightenment accomplished an astonishing coup of Christendom. That victory for the…
Author’s Introductory Note: Engaging in broad historical interpretation as I am about to do is always risky. Necessarily, one “stylizes” history by simplifying, over generalizing, and stereotyping. But the narrative qualities of history are not simply due to the imposition of human rationality upon brute facts; rather history is always…
A. Repentance to life involves endeavoring to believe real hard that you’re saved. reject infant baptism. stop watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. walk with God in all the ways of his commandments. B. What is necessary so that no sinner may expect to be forgiven unless he does it? Only…
The machine works mechanically and it is flawless. Slander/libel a group of Presbyterian ministers as “Romanist” because robes and James 2 are no worse than praying to Mary or relying on purgatory to pay for unconfessed sins. Drive off anyone who disagrees. Of that number, there may be a tiny…
If we take as a starting point the Tribal / Monarchical / Empire model, we can then add to it the Late Empire Phase. The particular ‘marker sin’ of Empire is false intermarriage, which signifies pluralism and syncretism. Empires by definition are “cosmopolitan” dominated by cities, high culture, many cultures,…
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Douglas Campbell responded briefly to my brief discussion of his critique of “justification” theory. In a fit of joie de guerre , I respond briefly. Campbell rebuts what he considers a “weak” argument in my post, namely, the claim that his decision to set out justification theory systematically and propositionally…
Peter Enns raises many of the standard objections to the Bible in The Bible Tells Me So . . . : Yahweh’s command to slaughter the Canaanites, contradictions in Scripture, historical errors and unscientific claims. His answers are pretty standard too. Christian don’t need to worry about God’s command to…
With a single line, Matt Zoller Seitz captures the quiet power of the Sundance TV series, Rectify , recently renewed for a third season: The show “never shouts when it can whisper.” The show’s principal character is Daniel Holden, recently released from 19 years on death row after the discovery…
Saul is presented to Israel as king by lot (1 Samuel 10). Samuel brings the tribes near, and the tribe of Benjamin is selected; then the Matrite clan within the tribe of Benjamin, and then Saul the son of Kish. We’ve seen this before. After the first, unsuccessful battle of…
Opening Heaven’s Floodgates , edited by Jason Silverman, is a wide-ranging collection of essays about the “Genesis flood narrative, its context, and reception.” The book includes detailed essays on the differing chronologies of the flood narrative in various ancient versions; comparative studies of Mesopotamian and Iranian myths; the use of…
Dwight Garner isn’t the first to wonder if the Swedish Academy’s commitment to honor “work of an idealistic tendency” has prevented it from rewarding some of the greatest writers of the past century: “Was it lofty Swedish idealism, as some have contended, that in part kept James Joyce, Virginia Woolf,…
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