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Writing

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

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Biblical Studies

Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones

[This essay was originally published in 1988. Given the situation that our new national socialists are getting the world into, I thought it might be useful to reprint it here. – JBJordan] The Bible has quite a bit to say about gold, silver, and precious stones, and the Bible always…

by James B. JordanMay 19, 2009
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Biblical Horizons

The Pastoral Function

I wrote this elsewhere and was encouraged to put it here. It is a comment on what a pastor is. Today, this is not very well understood, and God’s people suffer because of it. There are four professions: medicine, education, law, and religion. Each of these, when done at a…

by James B. JordanMay 17, 2009
Biblical Horizons

The Virgin Tomb: The Womb of the New Birth

James Jordan recently pointed out in private conversation how appropriate it is, in John’s Gospel, that Nicodemus is present both to ask Jesus about being born again, and to see Jesus re-enter the womb of the mother. Nicodemus rhetorically asks, “How can a man be born when he is old?…

by Mark HorneMay 8, 2009
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Romans

Romans 7

This is a problematic and much discussed passage. I’ve been discussing it in another forum, and have decided to move it here and present some very preliminary observations about it. One large question is this: Who is the speaker here and what is his situation? Traditionally, the speaker is seen…

by James B. JordanApril 19, 2009
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Biblical Horizons

Good New Sci-Fi

1. The current issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction includes a good fantasy novella by John C. Wright, who since his conversion has been writing Christianly. This is a fine fantasy with nods to C. S. Lewis and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and probably Gene Wolfe as well.…

by James B. JordanApril 15, 2009
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American Culture

The Name of Jesus

“It is an experience of our days that the spoken name of Jesus alone exercises an unforeseen power; and the effort which it cost to speak this name is perhaps connected to some faint apprehension of the power which is inherent within it. Wherever the name of Jesus Christ is…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 20, 2009

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Dance of Knowledge

Knowing follows the “dynamic of dance,” writes Esther Lightcap Meek ( A Little Manual for Knowing , 79). The knower and the reality to be known are partners, each one off balance at a particular moment but sustaining “an ongoing, overall balance” (80), engaged in a personal etiquette of overture…

March 13, 2014

Art and the World’s Repair

The essays on art collected in Tikkun Olam originated from Gillian Rose’s “broken middle,” writes editor Jason Goroncy. He includes a long quotation from a Rowan Williams essay on Job to explain. Williams writes, “Mere resignation is a betrayal; structuring and explanation is a blasphemy. What is left, then, if…

March 13, 2014
Uncategorized

New Phinehas

Jesus’ letter to Pergamum mentions Balaam and Balak (Revelation 2:14), and that is a signal that the whole message is running along the lines of Numbers 22-25. The death of the high priest is a sacrificial moment in the life of Israel. According to the rules of the cities of…

March 13, 2014
Uncategorized

Faith, Hope, and Love in Public

It’s easy for Christians to become frustrated with the state of the world, but frustration is ineffective and perhaps dangerous public stance. Over at Comment , I prescribe an antidote to frustration - a public stance infused with the theological virtues.

March 13, 2014

Leviticus as Creation Week

In a highly provocative VT article from 2009, Leigh M. Trevaskis points to the emphasis on Sabbath in Leviticus 23 and 25. All but one festival day is either on a date that is a multiple of seven, or on the day just after. The exception is the day of…

March 12, 2014

Outside the Camp

Leigh Trevaskis offers an intriguing, helpful discussion of the man stoned for blasphemy in Leviticus 24. Recent commentators have emphasized the “mixed” character of the blasphemer - son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father. While acknowledging the importance of that feature of the story, Trevaskis thinks that the…

March 12, 2014

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