Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
After the identification of the recipients of his letter at the beginning of Revelation, John gives a benediction that resembles the benedictions of the Pauline letters. He pronounces grace/favor and peace, grace and favor that lead to peace, grace that leads to fullness and harmony that is the biblical definition…
Throughout the latter half of 1-2 Samuel, Saul and David are locked in hand-to-hand combat. It seems an unequal contest. All the heavy artillery is on Saul's side. To understand the full scope of the conflict, we need to back up to the beginning of the book. Prior to Saul's…
Last week, I lectured at Ostrog Academy in Ostrog, Ukraine, and at a pastors' conference in Kyiv. The latter was co-sponsored by Trinity House and the Alliance of Reformed Churches in Ukraine. I offer my impressions of Ukraine this morning at Firstthings.com .
Why do I bristle when I see someone with white wires hanging from his ears, flipping through what must be a million songs downloaded onto his iPod? No doubt, it’s the threat of the new. I've only recently begun carrying a cell phone, and now I hear tell of compact…
Judah is in terrible shape (Isaiah 57). Yahweh told Israel to worship Him only at the temple, but the people worship on every hill and under every green and leafy tree. He commanded them to worship Him alone, but they are devoted to many gods. Worshipers set up their beds…
Like any great writer, the Lord foreshadows late happenings in early happenings. Like many greater writers, the Lord ends where he begins, returning to a glorified Edenic city-sanctuary at the end of his cosmic story. The Lord writes with history, real people and events, not merely with words. But His…
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In a December 2012 article in Charisma Magazine , Audrey Lee reports on the Christian revival taking place among Muslims in Iraq and Iran: “Mission researchers estimate more Muslims have committed to follow Christ in the last 10 years than in the last 15 centuries of Islam. Yet Islamic governments…
Though Kurt Stasiak is a Roman Catholic and a Benedictine, much of what he writes in Sacramental Theology: Means of Grace, Way of Life (Catholic Basics: A Pastoral Ministry Series) is catholic in another sense. He points out (18) that sacraments are not a “sacred parenthesis,” a slice of holy,…
In their history of zoos ( Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West ), Eric Baratay and Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier note a connection between Crusades and the development of European zoos. Romans maintained seraglios for the animals used in combats, and these were continued in Byzantium until the twelfth…
Some nuggets from Thomas. The first from his commentary on the Sentences (XLIV, 1, 2): “They reason falsely [who say that] since an angel is better than a stone, therefore two angels are better than one angel and a stone . . . . Although an angel, considered absolutely is…
It’s odd to describe a book with a title like Life, the Universe, and Everything: An Aristotelian Philosophy for a Scientific Age as “delightful” and “charming,” but that’s what Ric Machuga’s book is. Besides “clear,” “rigorous” and “illuminating.” Some samples from a discussion of God’s omnipotence (pp. 256-7): “Suppose an…
In his Christianity and History (94), Herbert Butterfield gives this wonderful musical analogy of history: “We might say that this human story is like a piece of orchestra music that we are playing over for the first time. In our presumption we may act as though we were the composer…
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