Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
John the Baptist says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt. 3:11).” Much debate surrounds the nature of this statement and what exactly it prophesies. Sacramental, baptistic, and charismatic Christians…
First Corinthians is not considered one of the Pastoral Epistles, but there is much to learn from Paul about pastoring a congregation by the way he writes to the Corinthians. Briefly, 1 Corinthians is an exposition of the cross and resurrection. In the first fourteen chapters, Paul gives an exposition…
Fredrik Hagglund ( Isaiah 53 in the Light of Homecoming After Exile (Forschungen Zum Alten Testament) ) argues against the common notion that Isaiah 53 is about the atoning suffering of Yahweh’s Servant. The Servant’s suffering is vicarious (i.e., he suffers for the sins of others) but it is not…
With the inheritance of Canaan and the dividing up of this priestly territory among the tribes, Israel became a microcosm of the nations of the world. This division between Israel and the nations as a substitutionary “land and sea” would prevent another global rebellion, and thus another global judgment. ((For…
One of the more revealing aspects of Paul and James’ soteriology is the different ways they both use Genesis 15:6 (“And Abraham believed God and it was counted for him as righteousness,”) as a proof text to defend their comments about the gospel. The key observation to make is that…
The disintegration of the EU is not the end of the world. It is a sign that the end of the world is anything but nigh. Western culture as we know it is dying at the hands of usurpers, traitors and prodigals. Even the worst rulers throughout Christian history at…
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Orlando Patterson’s Slavery and Social Death begins with the claim that, far from being a “peculiar institution,” slavery is commonplace in history. That’s not surprising. What is counter-intuitive is Patterson’s claim that slavery rose in importance at precisely the moments when civilizations reached their highest development: Slavery “was firmly established…
Airlines lie about what’s wrong with the plane, and how long it will be before it gets boarded, and whether there is enough space for my teeny carry-on in an overhead bin. With all these little lies, it shouldn’t be a surprise when they’re caught in a big one. Still,…
In his contribution to Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity , Stephen R. Holmes characterizes the doctrine of the Trinity as a set of hermeneutical guidelines: “What we call the ‘doctrine of the Trinity’ is, I suggest, a formal set of conceptualities developed like this: a set of…
Pastor Rich Lusk made the point in a recent sermon that Jesus’ miraculous feedings of 5000 and 4000 have everything to do with Jew-Gentile issues. Jesus feeds the 5000 in Jewish territory, and the numbers 5 and 12 are linked with Israel - the first the number of Israel’s military…
Paul’s letters follow epistolary conventions of his time, but I suggest that it is just as illuminating, perhaps more, to classify his letters as members of a biblical “genre,” the “prophetic lawsuit” or the “covenant lawsuit.” Covenant lawsuits are embedded in Israel’s covenant-relation with Yahweh. The covenant sets up certain…
Jed Perl doesn’t much like Jeff Koons and his “in-your-face” art. His review of the Whitney retrospective of Koons’s work is a small masterwork of critical scorn. Nothing, Perl writes, nothing is left to the imagination in Koons’s work. Whether he’s sculpting or painting himself having sex with his ex-wife,…
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