Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
John the Baptist says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt. 3:11).” Much debate surrounds the nature of this statement and what exactly it prophesies. Sacramental, baptistic, and charismatic Christians…
First Corinthians is not considered one of the Pastoral Epistles, but there is much to learn from Paul about pastoring a congregation by the way he writes to the Corinthians. Briefly, 1 Corinthians is an exposition of the cross and resurrection. In the first fourteen chapters, Paul gives an exposition…
Fredrik Hagglund ( Isaiah 53 in the Light of Homecoming After Exile (Forschungen Zum Alten Testament) ) argues against the common notion that Isaiah 53 is about the atoning suffering of Yahweh’s Servant. The Servant’s suffering is vicarious (i.e., he suffers for the sins of others) but it is not…
With the inheritance of Canaan and the dividing up of this priestly territory among the tribes, Israel became a microcosm of the nations of the world. This division between Israel and the nations as a substitutionary “land and sea” would prevent another global rebellion, and thus another global judgment. ((For…
One of the more revealing aspects of Paul and James’ soteriology is the different ways they both use Genesis 15:6 (“And Abraham believed God and it was counted for him as righteousness,”) as a proof text to defend their comments about the gospel. The key observation to make is that…
The disintegration of the EU is not the end of the world. It is a sign that the end of the world is anything but nigh. Western culture as we know it is dying at the hands of usurpers, traitors and prodigals. Even the worst rulers throughout Christian history at…
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Douglas Rushkoff ( Program or Be Programmed ) argues that we don’t think enough about how our new technologies run, or how they are biased. Most of us know how to use software; few know how to make it, and we don’t think about how those who do make it…
The Balaamites of Pergamum and Jezebel in Thyatira have the same teaching. Both entice the saints to fornication, which much be a spiritual form of adultery, and to each things sacrificed to idols. These twin sins link back to the apostolic decree after the Council of Jerusalem, which forbade Gentile…
The church at Smyrna will suffer “ten days” (Revelation 2:10). That suggests a brief tribulation, but why ten days? There are various speculations, but James Jordan’s suggestion seems the most fruitful: The ten day tribulation refers to the period between the feast of trumpets (Day 1 of Month 7) and…
Policy debates today are often framed as debates over state intervention, pro or con. It’s assumed that we know what a state intervention is. Ha-Joon Chang questions this assumption in a contribution to Institutions and the Role of the State . Whether child labor laws, environmental standards, or immigration laws…
What’s new about New Institutional Economics (NIE)? In their editorial introduction to Handbook of New Institutional Economics , Claude Menard and Mary Shirley explain that NIE abandons certain assumptions of neoclassical economics, specifically the assumptions that actors possess “perfect information and unbounded rationality and that transactions are costless and instantaneous.”…
In an essay on sacred law in ancient Athens ( The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law , 67), Robert Parker assesses the scope and limits of freedom of speech and religion. He notes, “If one asks how tolerant of unorthodox teachings (and cults) Athenian society was in practice, the…
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