Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
If 1 Chronicles were a movie, it would begin with two hours and forty-five minutes of credits: Name after name scrolling across the screen, most of them (as far as we’re concerned) obscurities and nonentities and unknowns, forgotten fathers and sons and mighty men; all the bit players in the…
Let me locate myself. I’m sitting on a sand dune, three hundred feet above the blue-as-a-swimmer-crab water of Lake Michigan. I’m so high above the surface that the sound of the waves flopping onto the beach is as quiet as wind easing through a screen door. Around me are several…
My title is too grand. What I offer here falls far short of a full description of poetry. I barely offer a definition. A more accurate title would be “Axioms and Suspicions About Poetry.” Axioms first. I have three of them. The first is the closest I can come to…
In his book In Defense of Food Michael Pollan does just what the title suggests, he defends food. Pollan argues that the presupposition behind modern food science, or “nutritionism” as he calls it, is that humans don’t need food, they need nutrients. To be sure, modern science is not yet…
The early church took possession of the Roman Empire within a few centuries, largely because she ministered sacrificially in word and deed. The church provided services and care that the empire and pagan religions could not in times of crisis. The faithful witness of those serving Christians bore great fruit…
My title, “The Original Murder” will be understood by many readers, if not almost all, to refer to Cain’s murder of Abel, but I have in mind the very first murder, the one which Jesus pointed to when He said that Satan was a murderer “from the beginning.” “You are…
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In his study of faith-based criminal justice initiatives, More God, Less Crime , Baylor’s Byron Johnson describes the puzzlement of leaders of the prison ministry, Champions for Life, over Johnson’s finding that “born-again prisoners were just as likely to return to prison as other comparable prisoners” (157). They cites 2…
“Four corners of the earth” is taken as a piece of ancient cosmology, embedded in the Bible. But the Bible historicizes this cartography as it historicizes much else. The phrase “four corners” isn’t applied to land until Isaiah 11:12, which speaks of the Lord calling together His dispersed people from…
James Dunn has observes that Paul’s letters are written for the defense and elaboration of the gospel. This is certainly the case with Galatians. Whatever other issues Paul raises about circumcision, purity rules, promises and Torah are all directed to clarity in the proclamation of good news. Paul identifies himself…
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the disciples laid their robes on the ground before Him, creating a carpet. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the backs of the disciples, elevated like a king. It’s a gesture found only once in the OT: When Jehu is proclaimed king. Jesus, the new Jehu,…
My initial reaction to Douglas Campbell’s analysis of “Justification theory” ( Deliverance of God , 11-95) was quite positive. I still think Campbell scores some points against the individualism and implicit contractualism of some Protestant work on justification. But on a more careful reading of his argument, I’ve come to…
“Who are these, and where have they come from?” an elder asks John about the innumerable multitude (Revelation 7:13). John answers, “You know,” and the elder does know, as he goes on to explain. So why the pretense of ignorance? In part, the exchange takes us back to the early…
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