Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
My first title for this series of posts was “Evangelical Sacramental Ecumenism” – not exactly a clickbait title. But those three words, evangelical, sacramental, and ecumenical, say a lot: The centrality of the gospel; a focus on baptism, bread, and wine; and the quest for visible unity among diverse churches.…
I can imagine someone reading the title of this essay and saying to himself, "I have two questions. First, what in the world is “contextualization”?" Second, even before hearing the answer to the first question, he may wonder, "what does baptism have to do with such an awkward and vague…
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 My colleague Ralph Smith has recently written on this passage, here . I entirely agree with Ralph's thrust, which is typological, that the passage is ultimately aimed at the entire nation of Israel itself as the rebellious son. But what I am thinking is from another perspective, perhaps…
In the previous article in this series, I drew attention to the threefold meaning of the Spirit of God descending as a dove on Jesus at His baptism. On a related note, I also argued that 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Titus 3:3-7 were parallel passages that addressed the same issues…
The National Anthem protest is misguided. So too the conservative backlash. The Church’s response has been disappointing. I address each in turn. The greatest triumph of the American Civil Rights Movement was its seizing of the moral high ground in American politics. It did so by insisting only on those…
Peter Leithart’s book, The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism , argues that baptism is parallel to and the fulfillment of the old covenant rite of priestly ordination. But this is not something explicitly stated in the New Testament. Why, then, should we believe it? Leithart shows in…
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In the print edition of First Things, Ephraim Radner has some sharp words for Candida Moss’s The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom : “According to Moss’s criteria, if an account of persecution or martyrdom is later than the purported events themselves (hardly easy to…
The presence of a lover can wound. So, of course, can separation. Commenting on the Bride’s search for her lover in the streets of the city, Paul Griffiths writes that “Love’s separation wounds are everywhere in scripture and tradition,” citing Israel’s exile, Peter’s tears, and Mary’s lamentation for her son…
The beloved of the Song can’t respond to Dodi’s call because she doesn’t want to get her feet dirty. After a survey of the biblical data concerning feet, Paul Griffiths ( Song of Songs (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) , 120 ) concludes: “When the beloved’s lover is read…
Song of Songs 5 is arranged in a modified chiasm: A. Bride Asleep, Dodi (“my beloved”) speaks B. His locks, v 2 C. He extends hand, arouses her belly, v 4; his hand D. She arises: hands drip with myrrh, v 5 B’. Locks, v 12 D’. His lips drip…
Joe Rigney writes to point out that NT Wright’s interpretation of Romans 4:5 (namely, that “justification of the ungodly” is equivalent to “bringing nations into Abraham’s family”) runs up against a problem in Romans 5:6, where Paul tells us that “at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” Joe…
One of Holmes’s targets in The Quest for the Trinity: The Doctrine of God in Scripture, History and Modernity is the “de Regnon thesis” that Greek and Latin Trinitarian theology took separate paths, the former being more pluralist and the latter more monist. Like other recent writers, Holmes doesn’t believe…
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