Biblical Theology

1 Samuel 13–14: On Israel’s Military-Industrial Complex, Saul’s Hoarding of AK-47s, and Jonathan’s Holy Heroics (Ep. 88)

By A. Duke, J. Hamilton, S. Emadi | 09.06.2023

In this episode of Bible Talk, Alex, Jim and Sam talk about 1 Samuel 13–14.

1 Samuel 8–10: On the Comedic Coronation of Israel’s Handsome, High-High “Hero” Who Can’t Even Find His Father’s Donkey (Bible Talk, Ep. 86)

By A. Duke, J. Hamilton, S. Emadi | 08.23.2023

In this episode of Bible Talk, Alex Duke chats with Jim Hamilton and Sam Emadi on 1 Samuel 8–10.

1 Samuel 4–7: On Eli’s Death, Dagon’s Destruction, and the Philistines Wondering about YHWH’s Return Policy (Bible Talk, Ep. 85)

By A. Duke, J. Hamilton, S. Emadi | 08.16.2023

From Dagon’s decapitation to Eli’s death, from Ichabod to Ebenezer, 1 Samuel 4–7 has a lot going on. What’s it all mean?

What Is a Church?

By Chris Hutchison | 05.25.2023

What is a church? How might we answer that question? Where should we start?

Book Review: In the Fullness of Time, by Richard B. Gaffin Jr.

Review by Jarrett Ford | 05.23.2023

Those who wish to have access to Gaffin’s decades of experience teaching Paul and Acts now do in a mere 400-page book.

On Opening Up Your Mind to Something You’ve Never Considered—Or, the Weirdest Episode of Bible Talk Yet (Bible Talk, Ep. 82)

By A. Duke, J. Hamilton, S. Emadi | 05.03.2023

In this episode of Bible Talk, Alex Duke chats with Jim Hamilton and Sam Emadi about canonical order.

Say No to Christian Nationalism

By Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.29.2023

If you don’t get your doctrine of the church right, you’re going to get your doctrine of the government and the nation wrong.

Book Review: On Earth as in Heaven, by Peter J. Leithart

Review by Dan Darling | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Leithart’s view of the church’s mission roots in postmillennialism, which yields not just an optimism about the future, but risks placing an eschatological and redemptive burden on Christians’ work in the world.

A 1689 Baptist Perspective: Confessionalism and Theonomy

By Justin Perdue | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Confessional Baptist theology disputes theonomy in three areas.

John Gill on Theonomy

By Ian Hugh Clary | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Baptists who care about the integrity of their own tradition would do well to leave theonomy to the side and embrace the thinking of theologians like Gill whose thought well-represented the best of both Reformed and Baptist theology.

Theonomy: Serious Theology, Serious Politics, Seriously Wrong

By Al Mohler | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Theonomy risks conflating the identity of the church and civil society as a matter of law and polity.

A Presbyterian Perspective: The Intellectual and Sociological Origins of the Christian Reconstructionist Movement

By Ligon Duncan | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

It is not our primary purpose here to provide analysis, but to describe and define, and to supply a preliminary sketch of the theoretical and environmental origins of the Christian Reconstructionist movement.

Culture Warriors: The Good and the Bad

By Michael Horton | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

The witness of the early church exposes us to a sort of culture warrior, but one who contrasts rather sharply from what’s usually meant by that term today.

Postmillennialism and Theonomy

By David Schrock | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.27.2023

Christ is reigning, and he will accomplish his purpose on earth as it is in heaven. But that purpose is best seen in the beautification and building up of the church in the midst of nations, not a final golden era among the nations, where all the nations are made Christian by the church’s influence.

Book Review: Empires of Dirt, by Douglas Wilson

Review by Paul Alexander | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.27.2023

Precisely here is where theonomy is in danger of becoming a new legalism: demanding of the church what Jesus does not demand and what the church cannot in any case do.