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Writing

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

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baptism
Baptism

And He Gave Some To Be Parents

Standing in the narthex at the font, parents joyfully approach with their newborn child. The pastor asks the parents a series of questions that may include their renunciation of the devil and all his works, their faith in God the Father, Son, and Spirit as explained in the Apostles’ Creed,…

by Bill SmithFebruary 17, 2015
christ-presentation-in-temple
Luke

Anna of Asher

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, with…

by Dave ShawFebruary 12, 2015
emmanuel-phaeton-1bwmfmvybi8-unsplash
Psalms

Psalm 30

Get the Psalm 30 Translation here Psalm 30 is a song for the dedication of "the house." Since it is by David, the house would seem to be his palace in Jerusalem. The psalm has an ABA structure, with the B structure being an exhortation to the saints, and the…

by James B. JordanFebruary 11, 2015
boat-rough-water
Same-Sex Marriage

Love Makes the World Go Round

I once asked a ferryboat captain if steering a ferry was any different than driving, say, a big semi truck. He looked at me like I had just asked whether a bowling ball fell when you dropped it. “It’s completely different,” he said. “On the river, you never stay pointing…

by Christian LeithartFebruary 10, 2015
romeo-juliet
Literature

Where A Man Belongs: Courtship Advice from Shakespeare

The key scene in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing comes just after the first wedding scene when Claudio tosses Hero aside as a "rotten orange." He has been tricked into thinking that Hero is unfaithful, and that is an affront to his honor. He won't put her away quietly. He…

by Peter LeithartFebruary 7, 2015
cloister
History

What You Learned About the Middle Ages Was Wrong

Medieval Christianity is in the news. That’s exciting for me as I have a PhD in medieval theology and I teach Ancient and Medieval Church History at Covenant Seminary. Thus I have a little “skin in the game,” as the saying goes. Earlier this week our President made some comments…

by Timothy LeCroyFebruary 6, 2015

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Economics

Historicizing Homo Economicus

Among the German writers that Liebersohn ( The Return of the Gift ) discusses, Karl Bucher stands out as a crucial figure. Like other German economists, Bucher objected to what he saw as abstract British economic theories, which attempted to universalize the historically specific British experience. Beyond other theorists, and…

June 29, 2012
American Religion

Instant America

In his fascinating intellectual history of nineteenth and twentieth-century theories about gifts ( The Return of the Gift ), Harry Liebersohn discusses the theories of nineteen-century German economists who attempted to historicize economics. Friedrich List’s advocacy of rapid German modernization was partly shaped by his experience of the United States.…

June 29, 2012
Literature

Literature Guide

Louis Markos packs an awful lot into the 130 pages of his new Literature: A Student’s Guide (Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition) . The book is an introduction to poetry, with a chapter on metrics and rhyme and another on poetic tropes and imagery. Halfway through, it turns into a…

June 27, 2012
History

State and Modernity

In his Guilt and Gratitude: A Study of the Origins of Contemporary Conscience (Contributions in Philosophy) (pp. 37-8) , Joseph Amato follows Karl Polanyi in noting how the introduction of markets, contract, cash, corporations “radically transformed traditional man’s fundamental conception of giving and taking.” Adjusting to this new order left…

June 27, 2012
History

Keeping things together

In the second book of De Specialibus Legibus Philo writes about the feast of trumpets: “Immediately after comes the festival of the sacred moon; in which it is the custom to play the trumpet in the temple at the same moment that the sacrifices are offered. From which practice this…

June 26, 2012

Self-gift

John Paul II ( Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body , p. 168-9 ) notes that parents and children have a natural fleshly unity with one another. In marriage, by contrast, the one-flesh relationship is chosen: This “reciprocal choice . . . establishes the conjugal…

June 26, 2012

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