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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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Economics

Mammon, A Jealous God

At the Financial Times blog , Shaomin Li, Ilan Alon, and Jun Wu report on their research into the relation of religious freedom and economic performance. One of their key findings is fairly obvious: sectarian violence inhibits economic growth. Another finding is more surprising: “countries with stronger government restrictions on…

September 12, 2014

A Village Isn’t Enough

Explaining the title of his book, Singing the Ethos of God , Brian Brock offers a critique of communitarian hermeneutics: “I have criticized the communitarian account of reading Scripture within the church in a manner that affirms their central interest in the church, but pushes it one step further by…

September 12, 2014

Whom Are We Arming?

President Obama said this week that part of the US strategy for containing the Islamic State is to provide arms to Syrian rebels, provided they are “moderate.” It might be a challenge to find moderate ones. A year ago, Ben Farmer reported in the Telegraph on a IHS Jane’s study…

September 12, 2014

New Creation Land

Yahweh takes Israel from Egypt to a superior land. In Deuteronomy 11:8-12, He describes eight features of the land, using “land” eight times: 1) A land to be possessed, 11:8 2) Prolong days in the land, 11:9 3) A land of milk and honey, 11:9 4) Land to be possessed,…

September 11, 2014

Delivering the Cosmos

In a couple of recent essays, Beverly Gaventa describes the cosmic, apocalyptic dimensions of Paul’s gospel. Gaventa is editor of a recent study of Romans 5-8, Apocalyptic Paul . In her own contribution, a study of the “I” of Romans 7 against the background of David’s Psalms, she explains the…

September 11, 2014

Same Old Paul

In his introduction to Paul in the Grip of the Philosophers , Peter Frick cleverly observes that contemporary philosophers who have chosen Paul as their dialogue partner end up violating their own stated principles: “Continental philosophy uses the voice of Paul, but does not always give him his own voice.…

September 11, 2014

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