Literature

Study and Preaching

John Hartley
Mar 4, 2019
I am not sure where I first heard this wisdom, but I have heard it several times: a pastor does not need an office, he needs a study. Spot on. The bulk of pastoral work is not management behind a door labeled “office,” it is bookish work behind a door labeled “study” – reading, research, writing,...

Hell: They Have No Bowels

Jeffrey Stivason
Jan 8, 2019
While rereading Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol I recently read something I had forgotten. When Jacob Marley appeared to Scrooge his body was transparent, so that Scrooge could see not only the front of his long deceased partner’s waistcoat but the back of it too! But then this line appears, “...

For Instruction, Doctrine, and Morals: Exegesis Not Eisegesis

John Hartley
Dec 5, 2018
The work of biblical interpretation must begin with a commitment to the humble yet courageous task of exegesis, matched with an equally daring rejection of eisegesis. In the former, we submit to both the Divine author and human authors of Scripture. In the latter, we ask Scripture to submit to us,...

Writing: Women Writing Theology

Amy Mantravadi
Nov 14, 2018
“But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.” (1 Timothy 2:12) I begin by quoting that verse because many of you are already thinking about it. I do not blame you. It is an important and much debated verse, and the way we interpret it tends to define...

The Art and Skill of Writing Podcast

Jonathan Master
Nov 5, 2018
James and Jonathan welcome Pierce Taylor Hibbs. He’s the associate director of the Center for Theological Writing at Westminster Theological Seminary. Through the years, Pierce felt that writing was not only a profession--one, in which, he was trained—but also a vocation and calling, especially...

Literary Theological Imagination

Leland Ryken
Aug 23, 2018
The function of the literary imagination is to incarnate meaning in concrete images, characters, events, and settings rather than abstract or propositional arguments. To use the formula of Dorothy Sayers, the imagination images forth its subject, and in turn it is a commonplace that what literature...

Getting the Garden Right: Vice Regency

Tim Bertolet
Jun 6, 2018
In Genesis 1, humanity is created and introduced to us as ‘made in the image of God.’ The description of humanity in Genesis 1 is foundational for the Christian worldview. The moral and ethical implications abound from the single statement than humanity is made in God’s image. In this brief post,...

Splintered Fragments of the True Light

Aaron Denlinger
Mar 8, 2018
For several weeks I've been intermittently reading Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach to my kids, while dabbling (as is my wont) in the news (typically the BBC), which, true to form, has generally born witness by one headline or another to the fallen estate in which we human beings find...

History: Helping Church to Love it

Rachel Miller
Dec 29, 2017
You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. Deuteronomy 11:19, NASB It's somewhat ironic for me to be writing an article on helping children love church history. I love church history, and...

Meditating on the Word: Reading the Bible Devotionally

Steven McCarthy
Apr 1, 2017
If you’ve been attending church, you have probably been encouraged to read your Bible devotionally, that is, privately, on a regular, daily basis. In your experience of the Bible, you’ve encountered statements like, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day ,” and, “Blessed is the...