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Writing

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

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Biblical Horizons

Gordon Wenham on Ritual

In a brief article entitled, “The Theology of Old Testament Sacrifice," Gordon Wenham, expanding on a comment about ritual from anthropologist Monica Wilson, states: We resort to ritual when we want to express our deepest feelings. Consider the rituals used in greeting people in our society: a nod, a handshake,…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 27, 1995
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Biblical Horizons

A Postscript to the Meyers Thesis

Everyone here in Cambridge is talking about sacrifice. My supervisor, Dr. John Milbank, is working on a book on gift in which he is dealing with recent literature on sacrifice. The graduate seminar in Systematics during Michaelmas Term focused on the theme of sacrifice. The first presenter was Dr. Ian…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 27, 1995
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Baptism

Sacramental Efficacy

Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato , virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the hocus-pocus and "presto!" the sacraments confer grace.…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 26, 1995
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Exodus

Mansions in the Sky, The Meaning of the Tabernacle

When Israel came out of Egypt, she was a collection of tribes descended from the Tribe of Abraham. Tribalism drops out of history into the "world" by looking back to ancestors and by orienting to the spirits that govern the world. The world must not be manipulated, because to do…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995
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Revelation

The Angels of Revelation

Angels are the mediators of the Old Creation, as Eugenio Corsini has rightly pointed out in his commentary, The Apocalypse. For this reason, argues Corsini, the book of Revelation must have to do with the final end of the Old Creation order, which he associates with the work of Jesus…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995
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Biblical Horizons

Triune Revelation and Through New Eyes Volume 2

Our procedure in "Through New Eyes Volume 2" thus far has been to lay out the general overview of history and its meaning as the Bible presents it. My hope is to fill this out in four major sections, corresponding to the four ages and the four testaments in the…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995

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Exhortation

We’re ready to obey God, but our eagerness often lasts only as long as we have guarantees that obedience will be easy. As soon as obedience causes discomfort, we look escape routes. In a sinful world, easy obedience is impossible. If we are agents of the Lord’s righteousness, we will…

March 3, 2013

Structure of Revelation 11:18

The song of the twenty-four elders in Revelation 11:17-18 begins with thanksgiving for God’s exertion of power that inaugurates His reign. Verse 18 describes how that reign comes to pass. It is a complexly organized verse. It begins and ends with lex talionis judgments against God’s enemies, and in the…

March 2, 2013

Families with children

In an essay on ” Abortion and Personhood ,” Alastair Roberts suggests that “”taking a stand against same-sex marriage is essentially a pro-life matter.” Roberts continues: “the paradigmatic family of liberal ideology is the same-sex couple with adopted children or children born through reproductive technology, a family of purely volitional…

March 1, 2013

Famine in the Land

One of my students, Susanna Winecoff, pointed to the parallels between the famine that drove Israel into Egypt and the famine in Jerusalem mentioned at the end of Acts 11. For support, one can point to the parallel of Genesis and Acts: “Famine was over all the face of the…

March 1, 2013

Jesus in the Middle East

I report on the Christian revival in the Muslim Middle East next door at First Things this morning.

March 1, 2013

Stand as one

Isaiah 50:7-9 is structured chiastically. On either side of verse 8 are declarations that “Lord Yahweh will help me” (vv. 7, 9; the clause is identical in Hebrew). In verse 8 itself, we have this structure: A. Near my vindicator B. Who brings a case? C. Let us stand as…

February 28, 2013

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