Latest Posts
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Yearly Round-Up
Read more: Yearly Round-Up2011 has come to a close. It has been a great year and there are a lot of fun things to look forward to in 2012 (who isn’t excited for The Dark Knight Rises or The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey?). Here at The Two Cities we are very excited for the introduction of this blog in…
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How Many Kingdoms? Contributions from the NT
Read more: How Many Kingdoms? Contributions from the NTWe have all heard the mantra by now. Week after week, in pulpit after pulpit, Christians are being called to renew the world that they live in. Called to “renew” or “redeem” everything from governmental structures to the very way we play sports. Leaving aside the fact that this call is often times very confusing…
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Doing Theology with the NFL (Guest Post)
Read more: Doing Theology with the NFL (Guest Post)If you live in Colorado, you will likely hear a news or sports story about Denver Bronco quarterback Tim Tebow at least once a day. However, when the Wall Street Journal Weekend dedicated two pages to Tebow, I knew it was time for pastors to start blogging. Tebow came to Denver in the 2009 draft, simultaneously heralded…
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With Respect for What?
Read more: With Respect for What?What do Derek Jeter, Tim Tebow, Lebron James, and Sidney Crosby have in common? Is each the premier player in their respective sport? No. Are they the highest paid individuals in each league? No. Do they all have the same level of experience, or have they won identical rewards in each of their respective leagues (i.e….
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Hermeneutics of Love (Guest Post)
Read more: Hermeneutics of Love (Guest Post)Withstanding the apostles and Jesus himself, Saint Aurelius Augustine is arguably the greatest Christian theologian of the first millennium. His contributions to the understanding and development of Bible interpretation are incalculable. He was a man ahead of his time. Indeed many of the current debates on hermeneutics and postmodern literary criticism appeal to Augustine for…
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Esther & Canon?
Read more: Esther & Canon?[Update (2/14/2014)—My new book Esther and Her Elusive God: How A Secular Story Functions As Scripture is now available. My posts on this site represent stages in the development of my thinking about Esther. For the full argument check out the book]. The Book of Esther is notoriously difficult. For many Christians this might seem like an…
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Come, Let Us Go Out into the Wilderness
Read more: Come, Let Us Go Out into the WildernessThe more I read Hebrews, the more I am convinced that Auctor wanted his readers to see themselves as members with OT Israel in their wilderness journeys. I often wonder why Hebrews includes discussion about angels, Moses, the high priest, sacrifices, the tabernacle, and other OT images; but lately I am beginning to think that we…
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How Many Kingdoms? Finding the Source of Civil Law
Read more: How Many Kingdoms? Finding the Source of Civil LawA few weeks ago, I introduced an idea that natural law was meant to be the source from which all civil laws flowed. Thus, rather than appealing to biblical texts in order to erect judicial code, one must look to natural law. This post is my effort to establish natural law as the normative seat…
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Joy to the World…But what IS this Joy?
Read more: Joy to the World…But what IS this Joy?What does Christmas joy look like? And if so, how do we obtain it? This month, I’ve noticed that a lot of my Christmas reflections have sought to explore the emotional and spiritual dissonance that the soul can fall prey to during Christmastide. Personally, I do believe that nostalgia is not all evil, and that…
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No Room In the Inn?
Read more: No Room In the Inn?Everyone knows how the Christmas story goes. As Stanley Hudson vehemently asserted in the most recent episode of The Office (8.10 Christmas Wishes) regarding the sensitivity to celebrate everything but Christmas during the Holidays: I want Christmas! Just give me plain-baby-Jesus-lying-in-a-manger Christmas! When our culture boils down the Christmas event it looks like this: baby…