This essay will discuss Malachi 3:1-7 and the Indictment against Israel. I will further discuss how it’s the last book before four hundred years of silence and how no prophetic word was spoken to the prophets again until John the Baptist. I will further discuss how the prophets before him looked forward to God’s emergence. I will elaborate on how the transitional nature of Malachi makes the book interesting to any individual concerned with the relationship between Judaism and Christianity as…
C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, discusses love throughout but particularly in chapters six, seven, and nine. Lewis talks about how Christians are to practice love through marriage, through forgiving, and through charity. By discussing how Christians are to practice love in these three sense, he also gives a picture of what love/Christ-like love is in his view. His view is different in many ways from other popular secular and religious depictions of love. His love is different than just being…
A Letter Concerning Toleration Analysis and its Relevance Today John Locke’s “A Letter Concerning Toleration” lays out an argument explaining the need for the separation of church and state with religious tolerance as the foundation of society. Locke defines religious toleration as the acknowledgement of an individual’s right to believe, and practice the faith of their own choosing. Toleration does not imply acceptance, but simply allowance; it is the ability to allow individuals around you to…
Let The Nations Be Glad Review Midterm John Piper’s “Let the Nations Be Glad”, explains how Piper guides the reader through the fundamental issues of missions within seven chapters. However, they are divided between three parts. For example, part one discusses missions as means of worshipping God which is found in chapter one. Thus, followed by the power of prayer and the price of suffering in missions in chapters two and three. Part two is devoted to answering two important questions of…
Evil can be seen as the root of all sin and wrong doing in this world. According to The Confessions, Augustine portrays how we as human beings use our freewill to make the wrong decisions thus leading to us facing unforeseen consequences. Augustine adequately shows that the whole existence is greater than the more divine parts because we as human beings have greater recognition of the goodness of God through the sins we committed. Augustine believes, as human beings, we are always in a search…
C.S.Lewis once said in the book Mere Christianity that,“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” This means that if you are always looking down on others you never get a chance to see who is above you so you often that assume it is you. This is dangerous because, once the people who are above you realize this, you will be put back in your place. In Sophocles's Greek tragedy, Antigone,…
Throughout the passages of The Life of Antony and The Life of Saint Macrina, relationship plays a crucial role in leading oneself to the ascetic life. It is apparent that Antony and Macrina come to the ascetic life, not only from the relationship they reach for with God, but the intentionally neglectful relationship they have with the Devil. The relationship one holds with the Lord proves to further their ascetics on their path of transformation in Christ as they possess an unfathomable love for…
One of the principle benefits of Christology is that of redemption. Redemption is the means to be saved from sin. In Why God Became Man, Anselm asks “by what logic or necessity did God become man, and by his death, as we believe and profess, and restore life to the world, when he could have done this through the agency of some other person, angelic or human or simply by willing it? ” Here Anselm explores the need of humanity which is that of redemption; how humanity is redeemed through Christ’s…
Visualizing the “Suicide of Judas and Crucifixion of Christ” “Suicide of Judas and Crucifixion of Christ” is a rectangular ivory carving of an event depicting four men and one woman. The bottom horizontal part of the rectangular carving functions as the ground of the scene, which subtlety merges into the sides of the carving. The two side and top of ivory carving function as a border with the inscription “REX IVD” over the head of Christ. These men appear to be outside in a warm environment,…
My personal response to the Egalitarian views of Linda Belleville and Craig Keener is varied. When reading and learning from Belleville I would go from understanding and personally align in thought, to feeling her view was somewhat stretching for me especially when other references were used outside of scripture. I was able to follow Keener closer, but this could be based on my up bringing in the evangelical church. It was very helpful to learn from Belleville the difference between…