born and raised twice in the bay, I preach Jesus and him crucified
John 3.16 is one of the most familiar verses in the Bible, yet one phrase in it still raises a good question. If Jesus is God’s “only Son,” what do we make of passages that speak of other “sons of God,” such as those mentioned in Genesis 6? The answer is that Scripture uses “sons... Continue Reading →
Revelation gives us two images, and they could not be more different. The first is a prostitute riding the beast, drunk on the blood of the saints. The second is a bride, clothed in fine linen, made ready for the Lamb. Babylon is not simply “bad people out there.” It is the whole system of cultural power,... Continue Reading →
Ruins of the Omride royal palace on the acropolis of ancient Samaria (Sebastia), laid waste in the Assyrian conquest of 722–720 BCE. C.S. Lewis answered that question in Oxford, 1939. The Second World War had just begun. Students were asking whether the life of the mind still mattered. His reply, later published as “Learning in War-Time,” was... Continue Reading →
Everyone believes. The question is what your belief can bear. Most of us don’t meet bad theology first in a classroom. We meet it on our phones. You’re scrolling between emails and grocery lists and there it is: a polished graphic announcing that Christianity is just re-branded paganism, or a reel claiming some ancient myth... Continue Reading →
Rock-cut façade of the Tomb of ‘Unayshu in Petra, Jordan, carved high into the Jabal al-Khubtha cliff above smaller cave openings along the Street of Facades, near the Nabataean theatre, photographed in 2019. Inside some of my current reading is a deceptively simple question: what can guide man? Across a handful of ancient and modern... Continue Reading →
Phillip W. Martin 