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Writing

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

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Family

Childbearing as Liminal Space

Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (1 Timothy 2:15) Years ago, the wife of a prominent American theologian recognized that even in Christian circles mothers were under a kind of social pressure to justify the worthwhileness of their…

by Garrett SoucyMarch 24, 2020
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Motherhood

Parenting through Coronavirus

I caught my five year old washing his hands again. He had already washed them several times that hour, so I asked him if he was okay. He told me he didn’t want to get “the virus”. That was before I had told him anything about coronavirus, but we did…

by Lindsey TollefsonMarch 20, 2020
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Discipleship

Take a Walk

Very early in life, I developed the habit of walking and thinking and meditating. I came from a rather strict home, and the only way I could get out of the house at night was to walk the dog. So, I did. I would walk the dog for miles and…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 17, 2020
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Coronavirus

Disease, Deprecations, and Deliverance in an Age of Safe Spaces | Reflections from a University President

From lightning and tempest; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death, Good Lord, deliver us. The Fourth Deprecation from Thomas Cranmer's 1544 Litany 1 A deprecation, such as that above, is a prayer to be spared from disaster, its Latin root deprecari meaning to…

by Alexander WhitakerMarch 16, 2020
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Biblical Studies

The Son of Man in the Clouds | Part 2

In the previous essay in this series, we saw that Jesus’ words about coming on the clouds were spoken on more than one occasion, first to the disciples on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:30; Mark 11:36; Luke 21:27), then, a few days later, to the high priest and Jewish…

by Ralph Allan SmithMarch 10, 2020
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Epistemology

Voice and God’s Relational Biology

The following is excerpted from an essay first published at Church Life Journal . We are grateful to the editors for permission to repost here. The word “science” at its root means “to know” and the word “theology” at its root means “to think about God.” Can we know anything…

by Kristin M. Collier MDMarch 5, 2020

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Half Measures

The Hebrew word “half” ( chetziy ) is used over 120 times in the Old Testament. Nearly half of the uses are in two books, Exodus (20x) and Joshua (29x). The word is used another 14x in Chronicles, and 13 more in Nehemiah. In Exodus, it is mostly used in…

September 15, 2014

Paul and the Troublers of Galatia

I explore the significance of Paul’s description of Judaizers as “troublers” at the Trinity House site .

September 15, 2014

What Scotland Will Decide

In Comment , Jonathan Chaplin helpfully defines the decision to be made in Scotland’s referendum next week. To clarify what’s being decided, Chaplin distinguishes between “nation” and “state.” “Nations are thickly-textured, evolving, porous, morally ambiguous societal amalgams. While one nation may be more or less recognisable when set against another,…

September 13, 2014

Coen Brother Populism

The Atlantic is running a series of essays on Coen Brothers’ films (are they Brothers, or just brothers?), written by Christopher Orr, who is re-watching the brothers’ feature films and sharing his notes. Orr gets Hudsucker wrong , but still, it’s a worthy effort. Orr’s series took me back to…

September 13, 2014

What Yahweh Does

Like most of the lists in Deuteronomy, the list describing Yahweh’s power in 11:2-7 is carefully patterned. The direct description of Yahweh’s power is constructed by fives and sevens (vv. 2-3). There are five terms: greatness, mighty hand, outstretched are, signs, works. Five represents military power, and also human power…

September 12, 2014
Trinity

What Can We Say of God?

Stephen R. Holmes argues in his contribution to Two Views of the Doctrine of the Trinity that “the doctrine of the Trinity is not primarily an ontology, nor does it depend on a particular ontology,” though Holmes admits that it does imply a “modest” set of ontological commitments (35). The…

September 12, 2014

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