Snow is the humblest weather. I have the quiet joy of watching it right now, during my favorite time of the day: dawn. The latest nor’easter has shouldered its way onto the east coast, throwing its heavy belly over New…
The Burden of Blood
I always remember Leviticus 17:11, probably for personal reasons. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood…
A Trellis for Trinitarian Theology
Mary was not so green when she mistook Jesus for a gardener (John 20:15). God is a gardener: he sows; he waters; he grows (Gen. 1:11; 2:6; Ps. 104:14; 1 Cor. 3:6). To him belongs horticulture and humanity. Yet, in…
A Reflection on Anthropomorphic Language
Currently, amidst the Reformed discussion concerning God’s simplicity and immutability, there has been repeated references to the anthropomorphic language of Scripture. It is commonly understood that language attributing human emotions or physical features to God is not meant to be…
Scripture: The Speech of God
The more I read orthodox theology, the more apparent it becomes that a fundamental tenet of Christian belief is either embraced or ignored (to various degrees) by any given author. For me, this choice or tendency on the part of…
The Heart of Trinitarian Heresy
All heresies with respect to the Trinity may be reduced to the one great heresy of mixing the eternal and the temporal. — Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til cut through the densest theological controversies like a hot knife through…
After the Artist: A Sobering Prophecy
“Priest, teacher, artist—the classic degeneration.” John Updike’s apothegm has been used by several theologians to describe the era of post-modernity. Kevin Vanhoozer, for example, echoes him by claiming that our culture has moved from priest to teacher to artist. We…
Literal, Metaphorical, or Neither?
The Bible is brimming with metaphors and analogies. The sun is like a strong man running through the sky (Ps 19:5); men are like grass and their glory like the flowers of the field (1 Pet 1:24); the kingdom of…
A Kingdom of Listeners
“Oh, that my people would listen to me” (Ps 81:13). Genesis 1–3 is riddled with mysteries, the pursuit of which, some argue, does more harm than good. For instance, it is puzzling how and why a malicious and crafty serpent…
Using Bavinck to Read Shakespeare: What’s in a Name?
In the second act of scene two in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we encounter a punchy line that’s held readers’ attention for centuries. Frustrated because her lover carries the name of her family’s rival, Juliet voices her complaint, What’s in…
