Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Place names become fraught with meaning by association with people and events. The name “Wittenberg” calls to mind Luther and the Reformation for Protestants and Catholics alike. Geneva has a wider range of associations, but the Reformation Wall, with its four main statues of William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza,…
“…a mystery without a solution, a horror story without savagery, a nightmare in which all the watches stop at noonday…” The Bestial Gardens of Men Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” (Luke 23:30) The following lines by Edgar Allan Poe,…
2 Samuel 11-12, which record David’s sin with Bathsheba and its aftermath, is structured chiastically: This arrangement highlights several things about the episode. It reinforces what is obvious from even a casual reading, that the transition in the story occurs with Nathan’s confrontation of David’s sin and David’s confession. Up…
Medieval bestiaries are packed with quaintly inaccurate information about animals, birds, and other created things. Foxes and snakes are devilish critters; stags, pelicans and elephants are Christlike in their various ways. Of course, the medievals picked this up from the Bible, where bestiary observations are fairly common. “Go to the…
What do Reformational Catholicism and craft beer have in common? The question seems to beg for a punchline. Better yet, it would be pretty good clickbait for an article on Katharina von Bora’s “spirited” contribution that helped spark the Protestant Reformation. Well, this is no joke and I am certainly…
Suffering Defined Suffering happens. We witness it all around us and experience it in our lives. It often comes from forces beyond our control. Suffering is inscrutable; it strikes unexpectedly, on a bright summer day or a cold winter night. We lament and are bewildered by suffering. But we are…
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The TLS reviewer of a recent Mondrian exhibit observes that Mondrian spent the final years of his life attempting to “eradicate any trace of the organic world from his art and surroundings.” Not surprisingly, he was unsuccessful: “Mondrian would remain vexed until the very end by what he regarded as…
Edmund Spenser’s style in the Fairie Queene was odd even when he first wrote it, and Spenser scholars have long argued the whys and wherefores. David Scott Wilson-Okamura argues that, unique as it was, Spenser’s style has sources both in contemporary poetry and antiquity. According to the TLS reviewer of…
The father of Alexandre Dumas was a man of legendary strength, courage, and energy, and his life is now the subject of a biography, The Black Count by Tom Reiss. The engaging TLS review sums up the influence that Dumas pere had on his famous son: “Dumas’s novels are deeply…
Yael Klangwisan’s Earthing the Cosmic Queen offers a couple of distinct theoretical frameworks for interpreting the Song of Songs. The first is summarized by the acronym “Pardes,” Paradise, which occurs at Song 4:13. Drawing from rabbinic hermeneutics, she proposes to read the text as it stands ( Peshat ), to…
Christians in the US are entering a period of crisis that will lead to martyrdom. Perhaps the martyrdom will be comparatively mild: No pyres or firing squads, but only mockery, slander, ostracism. But it will still be martyrdom, that is, the opportunity - the privilege - to witness faithfully under…
When Noah ( noach ) brings the ark to its resting place ( nuach ) on Ararat, he offers an ascension that brings a resting ( niychoach ) aroma to Yahweh (Genesis 8:21). The aroma “pacifies” Yahweh, but there seems to be another dimension as well. When Yahweh is enthroned…
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