Notes on Daniel, Josephus, and Jerusalem
A potpourri of Daniel, Josephus, apocalypticism, and the fate of Jerusalem.
Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “Love’s Labour’s Lost”
Shakespeare's great comedy shows a highly Protestant understanding of marriage and vow-making.
“The Hero Crossed the Brook Kidron”: Georg Fabricius, Hymns 1.4
A poem by Georg Fabricius on Christ making his way to Gethsemane.
Notes on Daniel 7: “One Like a Son of Man” in the Septuagint
Some Greek translations of Daniel 7 link the "one like a son of man" to God himself.
Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “1 & 2 Henry IV”
Which is more important for a king: ruling the court or ruling the people?
“I Am the Vine; the Branches—You”: Fabricius’s Third Hymn
Fabricius's third hymn from Book 1, on Christ our Advocate and Fructifier.
Progressives and the Bible in the Gilded Age
The United States’ centennial celebrations in 1876 took place in a republic barely a decade removed from a civil war that killed over 700,000…
“O Wash Our Fetid Guilt”: Another Poem of Georg Fabricius
Fabricius's second hymn: a new translation.
Literary Authenticity in Porphyry
Ancient literary authenticity may have had more to do with content than who put the words to page.
“Heaven’s Food”: A Poem of Georg Fabricius
A hymn of Georg Fabricius, rendered in English.
Episcopalians in the Early National Midwest: Against Rome and Revivalism
Anglicanism represented the best chance of making the American West civilized and Protestant.
Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “The Merry Wives of Windsor”
Why can we not bring ourselves to part with Jack Falstaff?
Christ in the Psalms, Christ in the Prophets, Christ in the Law
St. Augustine on Christ in the Old Testament.
On God’s Wrath
“For if God is not angered by the impious and the unjust, by no means does he love the pious and the just.”
If Christ Is God, Why Does He Pray?
Augustine on Psalm 2:8.
Augustine and the Aramaic of Romans 5:12
"You have not experienced Paul until you have read him in the original Aramaic."
When God’s Anger Isn’t Like Yours (or Mine)
St. Augustine on anger in Psalm 2.
Under the Law, In the Law
St. Augustine on being "in" the law as opposed to being "under" the law.
Some Doubts About “Eusebian” Politics
One did not publish anything bad about a sitting emperor, unless one was prepared for one's career to end, or worse.
Protestants Against Biblicism and Racialized Science in the Early Republic
Protestant intellectuals, particularly those involved in colleges, universities, and seminaries, denounced phrenology and racialized science as incompatible with Christianity.
No Ashes to Ashes: An Anglican History of Ash Wednesday
Are ashes on Ash Wednesday really an Anglican tradition?
Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “The Comedy of Errors”
Augustinian selfhood and married nuns sound some potentially Protestant notes in Shakespeare's masterful farce.
Sexual Misconduct in Romans 1: Two Background Traditions
Paul's words closely parallel other Jewish sources in antiquity.
Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “Titus Andronicus”
Humanistic learning and jokes for Protestants in Shakespeare's bloodiest play.
Lactantius and God’s Gender
Lactantius demonstrates that some non-Christian theologians had already proposed gender-inclusive divinity.
Unanswered Prayers: A Difficult Lesson from Augustine (Updated)
Augustine on Psalm 22:2.
“The men, to make a State, must be religious men”
Evangelicals are not the only ones who have assumed the need for a religious body politic in America.
Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “Richard II”
Contemplating the tension between divine right and popular rule with the Bard and the Reformers.
An Amazing Vignette from a Late Antique Church
What should a preacher do when the lector reads the wrong text?
Hypatia and Saint (?) Cyril of Alexandria
Prominent Christians—even saints—were known to act quite badly in late antiquity.
Homer and Vergil: A Study in Contrasts, Bounded in a Nutshell
The difference between Homer and Vergil, in one line.
Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “King Edward III”
Thoughts on oaths and loyalty in the Reformation, from a Shakespeare play you've never read.
Political Philosophy in Hodge’s Romans Commentary
Theology, it appeared to Hodge, naturally included political theology
“Those Words Are Pure Heavenly Thunder”: Luther on Attending to Every Word
Martin Luther, Galatians 1:4, and the importance of reading slowly.
An Introduction to St. Augustine’s Confessions
Take--and, like, read.
1 Enoch: Inspired Revelation or Apocryphon?
Not all the church fathers agreed with Augustine about the mythology of Enoch.
Lord Macaulay and the Limits of Liberalism
Liberals historically did not accede to Enlightenment or secularist ideology regarding the civil order.
Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “The Taming of the Shrew”
Failed farce? Cheap misogyny? Or simple insight into the sexes?
John Witherspoon, Abduction, Slavery, and the New Testament
If we find Witherspoon guilty on these specific charges, we will not easily acquit the New Testament.
Was America Ever Christian? A Reply to Desiring God
Was the early American republic really marked by deism, the Enlightenment, and secularity?
