Old Testament Themes: The Nations

We live in a world that’s heavily commercialized. Everything is an opportunity for profit—including land and natural resources. In order to monetize such things, we need laws that allow for private ownership. The downside, however, is that when this happens,

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The Help as a Functional Cross

Scripture and Sacrifice Perhaps there is no other passage in scripture that is prayed more by Orthodox Christians than Psalm 51 (Psalm 50 in the LXX). It’s recited in the morning prayers, during orthros, the third hour, during compline, and

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A New Translation for Agape

For those who have listened to me preach, or for those who regularly listen to the podcasts on the Ephesus School Network, you know that we prefer to translate the Greek word pistis as trust rather than faith. In English,

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Old Testament Themes: Syrian Wilderness

Most 21st-century Americans don’t have a good grasp of ancient middle-eastern geography. Yet, we can clearly see that most of the Old Testament stories take place in the Syrian wilderness. But, how are we to understand this geographical information? In

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The Big Picture: the Bible in One Go!

Many of us know several Bible stories from our Sunday school days—Noah’s flood, Sampson and the Philistines, David and Goliath—but, we may not know how they fit into the overall story that stretches from Genesis to Revelation. In today’s podcast,

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Old Testament Themes: Shepherdism

Bottom line:  The solution to our ego and pride, which tells us that we can “do it” on our own, is to learn to humble ourselves and become like a shepherd depending fully on God.  The Takeaways One of the

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The Roman Pedagogue and Violence

St. Paul says that the Law in the Old Testament was like a custodial guide (pedagogue), someone who sets boundaries around us to ensure that we live in peace with one another. However, in Christ, St. Paul argues that we

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