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

Rescuing Warriors from Muscular Christianity

Mathew, I don’t think we can reduce the role of the warrior in the Bible as low as you place it. Believe me, I share your desire to bear witness against the degraded, culturally captive self-parody that “muscular Christianity” has always been. But it seems to me that warfare as a purpose of human life is, unfortunately, much more central than you allow. Continue Reading »

Adam and Ahab

Genesis tells us when the serpent spoke to the woman, her husband was with her (Gen. 3:6). Yet evidently Adam is silent . Why? I’m thinking we might learn how to answer this question from Ahab and Jezebel, whose story is similar in several respects. The crucial similarity is that the man knows . . . . Continue Reading »

Adam’s Silence

Why does the serpent in the Garden of Eden speak to the woman, not the man? Genesis gives us a very strong hint about this, which I explored in an earlier post :  The great difference between the man and the woman at this point is that the man has heard the commandment of God first hand, . . . . Continue Reading »

Filter Tag Articles