Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Where do we go from here? Depending on one’s perspective, the American story can plausibly be interpreted in different ways. Looked at from past to present , we can see a great deal of continuity from medieval Christendom and the Reformation to America’s founding. The War for Independence, after all,…
Click HERE for Part 1 Civic Religion: American or Christian? We have already traced out the basic contours of the shift in America from an ecclesiocentric, theocratic social order to a secular one. Building on Locke and Hobbes, the Enlightenment accomplished an astonishing coup of Christendom. That victory for the…
Author’s Introductory Note: Engaging in broad historical interpretation as I am about to do is always risky. Necessarily, one “stylizes” history by simplifying, over generalizing, and stereotyping. But the narrative qualities of history are not simply due to the imposition of human rationality upon brute facts; rather history is always…
A. Repentance to life involves endeavoring to believe real hard that you’re saved. reject infant baptism. stop watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. walk with God in all the ways of his commandments. B. What is necessary so that no sinner may expect to be forgiven unless he does it? Only…
The machine works mechanically and it is flawless. Slander/libel a group of Presbyterian ministers as “Romanist” because robes and James 2 are no worse than praying to Mary or relying on purgatory to pay for unconfessed sins. Drive off anyone who disagrees. Of that number, there may be a tiny…
If we take as a starting point the Tribal / Monarchical / Empire model, we can then add to it the Late Empire Phase. The particular ‘marker sin’ of Empire is false intermarriage, which signifies pluralism and syncretism. Empires by definition are “cosmopolitan” dominated by cities, high culture, many cultures,…
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In his Redeeming the Enlightenment: Christianity and the Liberal Virtues (Radical Traditions) , Bruce Ward examines the paradoxes of the peculiarly modern virtue of tolerance (113-7). If tolerance is understood as forbearance toward what is morally repugnant, it is not morally indifferent or neutral but is morally founded. Endurance of…
Is sex good for movie sales? Not really, and Edward Jay Epstein, The Hollywood Economist (51), says it’s due to Wal-Mart: “In 2007, the six studios took in $17.9 billion from DVD sales, according to the studios’ own internal numbers. Wal-Mart, including its Sam’s Club stores, accounted for nearly one-quarter…
Early in his Meaning in Technology (23), Arnold Pacey points to the connections between music and the development of technology. Some of the leaders in the development of machine industry were organ makers, including James Watt. But the connection between music and technology began much earlier with “the development of…
The first of Pastor Ralph Smith’s studies in Deuteronomy 14 is up at the Trinity House page.
Psalm 104:31 says that Yahweh’s glory endures forever, and then immediately adds, as a parallel, “Yahweh rejoices in His works.” The Psalm as a whole is about Yahweh’s care of His creation, which represents the “manifold” works of God (v. 24). The glory of Yahweh is manifest in the sea…
Psalm 51:11, 17: Take not Your Spirit from me . . . . A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. David commits adultery and murder and abuses his power as king. He knows that when Saul refused to repent, the grieved Spirit abandoned him. Saul’s heart…
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