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

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Judges

God’s War Against Humanism: A Practical and Theological Review of "Judges" by James Jordan

This is the third of a three part symposium commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Dr. James B. Jordan’s publication of Judges: a Practical and Theological Commentary . Judges was the first book length exposition of Theopolitan Reading, a practice of reading Scripture in its fullness that Theopolis continues to refine…

by Stiven PeterDecember 19, 2024
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Judges

Politics and Conflict in Ancient Israel: A Critical Review of Judges by James B. Jordan

This is the second of a three part symposium commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Dr. James B. Jordan’s publication of Judges: a Practical and Theological Commentary . Judges was the first book length exposition of Theopolitan Reading, a practice of reading Scripture in its fullness that Theopolis continues to refine…

by Darren DukeDecember 18, 2024
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Judges

America in the Days of the Judges: A Pastoral Review of Judges by James Jordan

This is the first of a three part symposium commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Dr. James B. Jordan’s publication of Judges: a Practical and Theological Commentary . Judges was the first book length exposition of Theopolitan Reading, a practice of reading Scripture in its fullness that Theopolis continues to refine…

by Chase DavisDecember 17, 2024
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Advent

All Life is the Lord’s

From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I knew: the only way out of this is death. Either this life inside me disappears without my consent, or I lay my own life down to line the road for another. Like palm leaves at the city entrance, allowing the…

by MargaretAnn HesterDecember 12, 2024
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Apostle Paul

The Split of Paul and Barnabas

After the Jerusalem Council (AD 48/49), which endorsed Paul’s teaching of the Gospel and established a universal theology among Christian churches, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch and taught for some time (Acts 15:30–35). Then, it occurred to Paul to go on a second missionary trip to visit the churches…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 10, 2024
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Acts

The Future of Jesus | The Bodily Resurrection as Essential Context

This essay first appeared at SolomonSays.net and has been lightly edited for publishing purposes. Before I go any further on what the Bible tells us about the future history of the mortal human race , I must address the end of that history: the final resurrection. When Paul was arrested…

by Mark HorneNovember 27, 2024

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Burning Offerings in Israel and Elsewhere

Erhard Gerstenberger ( Leviticus , 34) claims that “The completely burned sacrifice is probably an Israelite peculiarity.” James Watts ( Ritual and Rhetoric ) disagrees. He argues (75) that “The practice of burning offerings gained popularity during the first millennium and spread from its original home in northwest Syria. Burnt…

May 31, 2014

Blood and Water

Sacramental interpretations of the blood and water from Jesus’ side are too tempting to resist. We ought not resist them. Of course, it is the blood of the new covenant and the water of baptism (John 20:34). But the order brings us up short: Not water and blood, but blood…

May 31, 2014

Table Among Enemies

It’s one of the most famous lines in one of the most famous songs: “You spread a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23). Israel knows very well that this is what Yahweh the Shepherd does. This is how Israel was born as a people -…

May 31, 2014

Heartless

Ancient Israelites offered the inner organs of sacrificial animals - entrails, kidneys, a portion of the liver. The heart is never mentioned. In all of the complicated sacrificial instructions of Leviticus, the word leb never appears, even once. We learn what happens to the stomach (Deuteronomy 18:3) but not the…

May 31, 2014

Peace System

If we stay with the strict terminology of Leviticus, the word “sacrifice” ( zabach ) is not a generic term for offering animals on altars but is used specifically of the “peace offering,” often in phrases like “the sacrifice of the peace offerings.” The burnt or ascension offering ( olah…

May 30, 2014

Numerological Patterns in Leviticus

As Wilfried Warning points out in his engaging study, Literary Artistry in Leviticus , the book of Leviticus uses word repetitions to create meaningful literary and theological patterns. At times, the word repetitions are designed to highlight the themes of a particular section. “Fat” ( chalev ) occurs twelve times…

May 30, 2014

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