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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Amos Funkenstein observes ( Perceptions of Jewish History , 11-12) that “To ancient or primitive societies, in which antiquity or a long pedigree makes for a true aristocracy, youth is a sign of inferiority, and a memory of youth calls for compensatory elements, all the more so if this memory…
Unclean spirits are conspicuous by their absence in the Old Testament, but the one direct reference gives us a clue to their activities. The Lord promises to open a fountain to cleanse the house of David and the city of Jerusalem, and adds “I will also remove the prophets and…
In a classic essay on the defiling force of sin in Studies in Sin and Atonement (258-9), A. Buchler observes that David asks twice for Yahweh to wash Him in Psalm 51 (vv. 4, 9). The reason has to do with the ritual background to David’s plea for cleansing. When…
In his excellent contribution to The Second Vatican Council , Paul Murray makes a crucial distinction between ecumenical optimism and Christian hope. Optimism, he argues, is “reality-denial,” an assurance that “things are not really bad as they might seem and will all inevitably work out well,” while hope “takes reality…
Tim Nichols describes local ecumenism in Englewood, Colorado, at the Trinity House site .
The prophets promise that a new David will arise to reign over a united kingdom. Judah and Israel will be bound back together under a single king. That sounds like a prophetic extension of David’s story, but in fact it’s something more like a simple repetition. David was first anointed…
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