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Writing

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

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Books

Let us Fix the World: An Admonition from the Strugatsky Brothers

That there is something wrong with the world is obvious. It does not take much time or brilliance to notice it. Once we get the feeling that we could imagine a better world, we are tempted to fix it or, if we cannot, to escape it. For both the world-fixers…

by Bogumil JarmulakApril 6, 2021
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Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer Exposited

“Our Father in heaven,” what is man that we should be called your sons and daughters, beloved children of God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, Yahweh of Hosts, the Ancient of Days. You are not a father preoccupied with work or engrossed in your smartphone; you are a present…

by Drew KnowlesMarch 30, 2021
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Pastoral Ministry

Pastoral Reflections on Purity Laws

The Son of God took on human flesh and entered into the sin and suffering of our world. His life and teaching and suffering from His conception to His suffering on the cross teaches us a lot about how the good news enters into the world. Recently, I was teaching…

by Nathan ZekveldMarch 23, 2021
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Hermeneutics

The Ass and the Messiah

There is an unspoken rule about typology that permeates Evangelical thinking. It goes something like this: “If the New Testament authors don’t use an Old Testament character as a type, we don’t either.” There is a soundness in this reasoning, at least in a preliminary sense. There is no better…

by Garrett SoucyMarch 16, 2021
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Church Calendar

The Sound of Silence

In The world of Silence, Max Picard writes, “There does not seem to be any space left where there could possibly have been anything but noise. We take it for granted much as we take the air itself for granted. Everything begins and ends with noise.” Is it fair to…

by Jacob SkogenMarch 9, 2021
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Hermeneutics

The Absent Presence of God: The Storied Theology of Esther for the Modern Age

God is Not There God is not in the book of Esther. Do a word search and you will get 0 results. Also try Lord, Yahweh, Prayer, Temple, or Sacrifice. Even names with God’s name in them, like Elijah, Jeremiah, or Daniel are missing. The fool says in his heart,…

by Ryan HandermannMarch 4, 2021

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Sacred Systems

Sacred Systems by Eric Kyle is tough going. He covers “systems” of personal transformation and spiritual formation from Philo through the Didache, Bonaventure, Erasmus and de Sales and William Law, to Dallas Willard. Kyle is interested in the “system” that each advocates - their theology and cosmology, their theory of…

February 21, 2014

Death, Sin and the Patriarchs

Death, not sin, is the great problem for Israel’s patriarchs. There is remarkable little talk of “sin” in Genesis. Sin waits for Cain (4:7), the sin of Sodom rises up before the Lord (18:20), Abimelech sins against Abrhaham (20:6, 9), Joseph refuses to commit the sin of adultery with Potipher’s…

February 21, 2014

Outfitting Overcomers

Each of the seven messages to the churches ends with a promised gift to the victors, those who overcome. These are (the numbers refer to the number of the letter): 1. Eating from the wood of life in Paradise. 2a. A crown of life. 2b. Rescue from the second death.…

February 21, 2014

Sabbath Bread

When Israel tried to reserve some manna and keep it overnight, it rotted and sprouted worms. Except on the Sabbath: On the eve of the Sabbath, they “rested” ( nuach ) the baked manna until morning and it was not rotted (Exodus 16:23-24). The manna rested as Yahweh rested (…

February 21, 2014

Remembering Beckett

Beckett Remembering/Remembering Beckett , edited by James and Elizabeth Knowlson is a compilation of reminiscences by and about Samuel Beckett. The collection covers his entire life, from childhood through years of obscurity, to his later triumphs. It includes recollections from friends, collaborators, students, actors and actresses who performed his plays…

February 21, 2014

Sacred Violence

In a 2010 piece in Theology Today , Leslie Goode summarizes some of the challenges posed to post-Girardian Christian apologetics and anthropology by Kathryn McClymond’s Beyond Sacred Violence . McClymond argues that violence is not a universal feature of sacrifice, and even where it is present it is not necessarily…

February 20, 2014

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