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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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American Politics

“Not our President”?

I think I want to respectfully disagree with Doug Wilson here . I understand him to be saying that if a candidate for elective office won that office through election fraud, that he would not really hold that office even if he was installed. I don’t have any comment to…

by Mark HorneDecember 2, 2020
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Advent

Peace on Earth

When I was a young girl, each Christmas my grandmother would send us a sweet little ornament to hang on the tree. I still have many of those ornaments decorating my home. For a few years in a row, she selected ornaments with people from around the globe smiling or…

by Lindsey TollefsonDecember 1, 2020
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Manhood

The Paradox of Masculinity

I am a man. I came from a man. I have been around many men. I read books about men. Occasionally I have the opportunity to directly disciple men. And now that I have a son I have the great responsibility of teaching him to be a man. One may…

by Brian G DaigleNovember 24, 2020
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Architecture

Bodies and Architecture

It seems at least sane to believe that past societies experienced upheaval and disarray quite like what we are experiencing today. Perhaps we are witnessing something altogether new or greater in degree than what peoples witnessed in the past, but it doesn’t seem likely. History is filled with fissures and…

by Joe McCulleyNovember 17, 2020
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Feast

The Church Potluck and the Biopolitical

“But for those of us to whom urban life is necessary and who cannot forego eating men, it is to our advantage to frequent the countries where one finds the most of them.” -Rousseau At All Saints Anglican in Honolulu, where I serve as rector, it has been our practice…

by Mark BriansNovember 10, 2020
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Biblical Studies

The Heel of Joshua

The Scriptures are replete with stories of deception. And often, strangely, it is those who we regard as righteous who are doing the deceiving. And, even more strangely, their deception is often rewarded, or even praised. Consider Jacob, Tamar, the Egyptian midwives, Rahab, to name just a few. Frustratingly for…

by Rhys LavertyNovember 3, 2020

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Philosophy and Purity

Socrates claimed that the aim of philosophers was “to practice for dying and death,” and this means that the philosopher must be eager for death all his life and face his eventual death as with equanimity. Preparation for death involves dying before death, and this is a process of purification…

July 8, 2014

Genealogy of “Ritual”

“Ritual” wasn’t a hooray term in early Protestantism. Catholics had their rituals and ceremoniousness, and Protestants had little interest. Yet it was a Scot, and a professor of divinity, Robertson Smith, who first focused scholarly attention on the phenomenon. As Jan Bremmer points out in his contribution to Ansichten griechischer…

July 8, 2014
Music

Sacred Music in Secular Society

Jonathan Arnold’s Sacred Music in Secular Society poses a question and offers an answer. Sacred music is popular: Witness the sales of chant albums, the popularity of the Tallis Scholars, the Sixteen, and other groups.The question is why music composed for liturgy or with liturgical interests, music once used in…

July 8, 2014

Not All Heroes

US Army Captain Benjamin Summers warns against hero-inflation in a piece in the Washington Post : “Many veterans deserve high praise for their heroism, but others of us do not. Infantrymen who put their lives on the line for a mission, aircrews who flew into harm’s way to evacuate the…

July 8, 2014

Abram’s Prophetic Call

Abraham is the first man in the Bible who is called a “prophet” (Genesis 20:7). A prophet, Abraham Heschel pointed out, is a member of Yahweh’s council, an officer of the court who listens in on the proceedings and has the privilege of the floor. Fittingly, Abraham is called “prophet”…

July 8, 2014

Germanic Jesus

My friends at Romans Road Media have posted a brief essay of mine on the penetration of Christianity into Germanic literature. While you’re there, check out some of the educational resources, especially the video courses on Old Western Culture taught by Wes Calihan.

July 8, 2014

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