Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Figure It In

Time and the Word:Figural Reading of the Christian Scripturesby ephraim radnereerdmans, 326 pages, $50 Moderns are accustomed to taking premodern interpretations of the Bible to be products of a bygone time, when outmoded worldviews permitted naive, anachronistic interpretations of scriptural texts. . . . . Continue Reading »

How to Read the Bible

Allegory fell on hard times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although the charm of beloved works of English literature such as Spenser’s Faerie Queene and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress lies in the imaginative use of allegory, biblical scholars banished the term from their vocabulary. . . . . Continue Reading »

Baptizing Middle-Earth

J R. R. Tolkien once wrote ruefully, “Being a cult figure in one’s own lifetime I am afraid is not at all pleasant.” His popularity still has its unpleasant side effects. The peculiar enthusiasms of many of his fans, the existence of fantasy as a lurid paperback genre, and the flavor of the . . . . Continue Reading »

Filter Tag Articles