Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
WHAT IS THE OT PRECURSOR OF THE NT OFFICE OF PASTOR? HOW DOES THE FORMER ILLUMINATE THE LATTER? The first problem to address is: how do we know that there is an office of pastor in the New Testament? 1 Perhaps the way the question is put may permit me…
[This essay was originally published in December, 1981, in The Biblical Educator , a publication of the Institute for Christian Economics, and again with slight revisions in Contra Mundum 7 (Spring, 1993). It is reprinted here as a supplement to my book Creation in Six Days .] In 1979, Dr.…
Anyone seeking to reverse the meaning of this promise needs to come to grips not only with the phrase "God was with the lad" later on, but also with Hagar’s response in 16:13. She worships Yahweh, putting her trust in Him and obeying Him. In fact, Hagar is at the…
Ishmael is the narrator of Melville’s fantasy-romance Moby Dick. Melville takes up the traditional view of Ishmael as a wayward son of Abraham, driven out solely because of the Divine "caprice" of election, an angry man with his hand raised against all other men. He is a fitting "anti-hero," or…
There were five cities at the center of the Canaanite culture in the circle of the Jordan, a place like the Garden of Eden, like the land of Egypt, before it became the Dead Sea at the destruction of the cities (Genesis 13:10). Genesis 14:2 tells us their names: Sodom,…
Meditations by James B. Jordan Genesis 19, the destruction of Sodom and the rescue of Lot, is part two of a story that begins in Genesis 18. These two chapters happen in one 24-hour period: noon and evening in Mamre, and midnight and daybreak in Sodom. God and two angels…
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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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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.…
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