Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Leithart

Home
Evangelical
Proverbs 30:1-9

Proverbs 30:1-9

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:42 pm by Peter Leithart

Proverbs 30:1-9 2017-09-06T22:42:43+06:00 Peter Leithart

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

INTRODUCTION: STRUCTURE

There are five identified collections of Proverbs in the book. The choices are set up in the opening section, identified as “proverbs of Solomon, the son of David” (chapter 1-9). Chapter 10 begins another section, also identified as “proverbs of Solomon.” That section lasts until the beginning of chapter 25, which begins a collection of “proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah the king of Judah, transcribed (25:1). Chapter 30 is the fourth collection, and chapter 31 the fifth. Five is the number of military formation in Scripture, the number of fingers on the hand that grasps weapons of war and musical instruments for battles against principalities and powers.

Bruce Waltke, alternatively, has suggested that the book breaks down into seven collections: 1:1-9:18; 10:1-22:16 (Solomon); 22:17-24:22 (thirty “sayings of the wise”); 24:23-34 (further “sayings of the wise”); 25:1-29:27 (Solomon); 30:1-33; 31-31. This heptamerous arrangement suggests at least a numerical connection with the creation account. As Yahweh created the world by His wisdom, so He has revealed His wisdom to form us into faithful subcreators. If we can press the arrangement a bit more, then Proverbs 30 is in the “Day 6” slot of Proverbs, the day of man’s creation. Proverbs 30 describes Adamic life and the way of wisdom for new Adams.

Proverbs 30 is a distinct section of the book of Proverbs. It contains the words of someone identified as “Agur the son of Yaqeh” (v. 1). Chapter 31 introduces a new author, “King Lemuel.” Thus, chapter 30 stands alone. It differs in style from much of Proverbs as well. Instead of pithy two-line proverbs, we have more extended meditations, including a number of annotated lists. Agur asks “two things” of Yahweh (v. 7), lists four different “generations” (Heb. dor ; vv 11-14), describes the two/three daughters of the leech (vv. 15-17), lists three/four things that are beyond his understanding (vv. 18-20), three/four things that shake the earth (vv. 21-23), four things that are small but strong (vv. 24-28), and three/four things that are stately in their march (vv. 29-31). The whole chapter is surrounded by exhortations to humility, warnings against self-exaltation. “I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man,” Agur begins (v. 2), and he ends with a warning to puffed-up fools to stop their mouths before problems arise.

There are seven lists, which are punctuated with shorter proverbs. It might be outlined as follows:

A. Agur: Stupider than any man, vv 2-4

B. The word of God, vv 5-6

1. Two requests, vv 7-9

-don’t slander a slave, v 10

2. Four generations, vv 11-14

3. Two/three daughters of leech, vv 15-16

-eye that mocks father, v 17

4. Three/four wonderful things, vv 18-19

-way of adulterous woman, v 20

5. Three/four things that make earth shake, vv 21-23

6. Four small wise things, vv 24-28

7. Three/four stately things, vv 29-31

A’. Stop foolish self-exaltation, vv 32-33

The internal structure of the seven lists subdivides the list into four groups that are arranged with a kind of rhythm: 1, 2, 1, 3. Further, the one-verse proverbs divide the whole sequence into a 4 + 3 pattern, like the creation week itself (where the last three days are distinguished as days of “blessing,” Genesis 1:22, 28; 2:3).

INTRODUCTION: AGUR

Who wrote this collection of Proverbs? The name “Agur” is never used elsewhere in the Bible, so there is little to go on. Some have suggested it’s a name for Solomon, others that it is the name of an unknown sage in Solomon’s court, others that it is an Edomite sage.

Since Agur is never mentioned elsewhere, we are left with speculations based on the meaning of the name and the surrounding names. Agur might be based on a root that means “gather,” as in gathering a harvest (cf. Deuteronomy 28:39; Proverbs 6:8; 10:5), a root that might also be reflected in the word ‘agurah , used once in the Hebrew Bible (1 Samuel 2:36) to mean “payment.” Agur’s name might thus be a reference to his task of gathering proverbs or people, much like Qohelet means “the Assembler.”

Some have suggested instead that Agur comes from the word ger , meaning “sojourner” or stranger. Israel was a nation of strangers in Egypt (Genesis 15:13; cf. Exodus 6:4) and Abraham recognized himself as a stranger in the land of promise (Genesis 23:4). Jacob used a form of the word ( magur ) to describe his entire life as a life of sojourning (Genesis 47:9; cf. Genesis 17:8; 28:4; 36:7), and Moses named his son Gershom as a memorial of his status as a stranger in a strange land (Exodus 2:22). Because Israel had been a nation of aliens, they were to treat the aliens with justice – offering them the possibility of circumcision and participation in Passover (Exodus 12:49), giving Sabbath rest (Exodus 20:10), avoiding oppression and vexation, avoiding setting up obstacles to frustrate them (Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Jeremiah 7:1-7; Ezekiel 22:29; Zechariah 7:10), leaving grain and grapes for gleaning strangers (Deuteronomy 24:19). Sojourning is the shape of Israel’s early life, and was to leave a lasting impression on the way Israel was organized after she ceased her sojourning and inherited a land of her own. Even when Israel was settled and was ready to build a temple, David confessed that Israel was a nation of strangers and sojourners, since “our days on the earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding” (1 Chronicles 29:15; cf. Psalm 39:12; 119:19). The social status of stranger has been metaphorically elevated into a perspective on regarding human life in general, and this wisdom is an essential part of the wisdom of Agur. James Jordan suggests that Agur is a coded name for Jacob the sojourner. That is certainly possible, but we should also notice that if Jacob speaks here, he speaks as Israel, the father of a nation of aliens.

Drawing on the work of P.W. Skehan, Jordan also suggests that the name of Agur’s father is a riddle. Yaqeh is not, Skehan argues, a proper name, but an abbreviation for the phrase “Yahweh, holy is he” (Heb. Y ahweh q adosh h u ). This possibility is strengthened somewhat by the fact that Agur’s first reference to Yahweh describes him as the “Holy One” (v. 3; Heb. qedosh ). Whoever Agur is, then, he is describing himself as a son of the Yahweh the Holy. That could describe Jacob, who is Israel, Yahweh’s son; it could equally describe the king. It also hints at an Adamic connection, since Adam was made in the image and likeness of his Holy Father. If Skehan is right, then the proverbs of chapter 30 describe the demeanor of a son of the Holy One, the world as it appears to a son of God.

Agur describes his proverbs as a “burden” (Heb. massa’ ). The word is sometimes used literally for burdens borne by animals (Exodus 23:5) or by human beings (Numbers 4:15, 19, 24, 27, 31, 32). In the latter passages, the word takes on a somewhat metaphorical sense; though the Levites do bear actual burdens, the word also describes the task that the Levites “bear” as representatives of Israel. Closer to Agur’s usage are the uses of the word found in the prophets. Prophecies, especially heavy prophesies of judgment, are described as “burdens” (Isaiah 13:1; 14:28; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; 21:1; 23:1; Nahum 1:1; Habakkuk 1:1; Zechariah 9:1; 12:1; Malachi 1:1). The image may be of “heavy”

words, but it could also simply refer to the fact that the prophet “lifts up” and “carries” the words of the prophecy. In any case, Agur’s use suggests that his proverbs can be read as in some sense prophecies.

One final introductory matter: Verse 1b seems to mention two people to whom Agur addresses his words, Ithiel and Ucal. Many scholars, however, have translated the verse differently, making it an address to God (“el”) and translating the names as verbs. It might be translated, “I am weary, O God, I am weary, O God, and I have brought to completion (or to an end).” This declaration seems to indicate that Agur is an old man, reflecting on the lessons he has learned from life. He is weary of life, and yet he is hopeful of bringing life to conclusion. These are the reflections of a sojourner, and more specifically of a mature sojourner.

PROVERBS 30:2-4

Verse 2 begins with the Hebrew particle ki , which typically means “for” or “because.” Tghat is a preferable translation to the NASB’s “surely.” Verses 1-2 go together and read, “I am weary, O God . . . for I am more brutish than a man and the discernment of adam is not with me.” Verse 2 gives the explanation for Agur’s weariness. It is not merely a matter of age, but of age and a recognition of his own lack of knowledge.

Agur calls himself “brutish,” using a word typically reserved for fools and those who hate instruction (Psalm 49:10; 73:22; 92:6; Proverbs 12:1). It is related to (or puns with) a verb that means “consume,” which is sometimes used to describe the consuming power of a fire and sometimes to describe an animal depasturing a field (Exodus 22:5). Jeremiah uses various forms of the verb to describe pagan sages, idolaters, and Israel’s kings (Jeremiah 10:8-22). When Agur calls himself brutish, he not only means that he lacks knowledge, but also saying that he, like a stubborn animal, has resisted knowledge. This is not only an acknowledgement that he lacks knowledge, but an acknowledgement of his culpable resistance to knowledge. He doesn’t have the discernment of adam, and he acknowledges that he has not learned wisdom.

Verses 2-3 are constructed with four clauses:

I am brutish more than a man

(I) do not have the discernment of adam

I have not learned wisdom

Knowledge of the holy ones [or Holy One] I know

The structure is significant at the beginning of a chapter that has five lists of four. A number of those are introduced by a “three, even four” formula, distinguishing the fourth from the last. Verses 2-3 are structured in the same way. The first clause is clearly negative – he admits his brutishness. The second and third clauses explicitly employ the negative particle lo . The final clause does not, even though many translations carry over the negative from the third clause (NASB: “Neither . . . nor”). It’s better, though, to take the fourth clause as a contrast to the previous clauses; the waw that begins the clause is disjunctive – “but.” Waltke translates the fourth clause more positively: “but I want to experience the knowledge of the Holy One.” The Hebrew is more straightforward, not expressing a wish but expressing a reality: For all my brutishness and lack of discernment and wisdom, I know knowledge of the holy ones.

Qedoshim is plural. That may be an honorific, referring to Yahweh as the Holy One. One thinks of analogies with elohim, also a plural but a normal word for the God of Israel who is One. The most common use of the plural of qadash , however, is with reference to the “most holy” things, places, foods, and people who are claimed by God and who are brought near to Him. The holy of holies is the qodesh-qadashim , and most holy foods and objects are given the same description. The knowledge that Agur claims to have is knowledge of the Holy God that is perhaps connected with the holy places and things of which Israel was caretaker.

Who . . . who? Verse 4 reminds us of the Song of Moses: “Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders” (Exodus 15:11). Agur’s questions are a taunt. He is speaking to the wise, to the discerning who claim to know: “You know! You can tell me! Can’t you?” Again Agur uses a four-clause structure, asking a series of questions that all have the same answer. Only the Holy One ascends to heaven and descends, gathers wind or spirit in his fists, wraps himself with a watery garment of cloud, establishes the ends of the earth. What is his name? Agur doesn’t expect his assumed interlocutors to be able to answer, but he knows the answer. “Knowledge of the Holy I know,” and the Holy is the One who can do all this. Yahweh, Holy is He – that is his name. And His son? Why, of course, Agur, the son of Yaqeh!

If Agur is the son of this Holy One, then he must learn to imitate Him – like Father, like son. Only Yahweh has linked heaven and earth, only he can grasp the wind, only He can wrap waters round Himself and establish the ends of the earth. But the brutish Agur is his son, and so he too is learning to do what the Father does.

PROVERBS 30:5-6

Agur claims a knowledge of the Holy One who is Creator of Heaven and Earth, and in verses 5-6 he describes the source of His knowledge: He knows the Holy One because He has listened to the word of God. That word is pure, that is, tested in the fire, so that all the base metals have been purged from it (cf. Psalm 12:6; 18:30). Because the word is tried and purified by the fire of the Spirit, the word is a shield to those who trust in Him, those who cling to God with steadfast loyalty and find refuge and protection in Him. With God’s word, Agur is sure that he can enter any battle and be unscathed.

God’s word is not only a pure word, a strong and protective shield, but is also a sufficient shield. God wants us to talk back to Him. He wants us to search out and discover what He has revealed. But what He has revealed, He has revealed; what He has spoken, He has spoken, and adding something to His word as if it were His word is dangerous. He will reprove us, and we will be exposed as liars. If we say “Thus says Yahweh” when it’s only “Thus says me,” it will eventually be clear that we are putting words in the mouth of the One who cannot lie.

PROVERBS 30:7-9

Verse 7 introduces a double petition to Yahweh. Old Agur sees death looming, and wants these things before he comes to the end. The requests are chiastically arranged:

A. Request #1: Remove vanity and lies, v 8a

B. Request #2: Give neither poverty, v 8b

C. nor riches, v 8b

D. Feed me with my apportioned food, v 8c

C’. Lest I be full and deny, v 9a

B’. Let I be poor and steal, v 9b

A’. Lest I take the name of Yahweh, v 9c

The whole is surrounded by worry about vanity and lies. It begins with an explicit reference to “vanity,” the same word that is found in the third commandment (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:11), and the passage ends with a reference to the name of Yahweh, whose name we are forbidden to take in vain. The worry about wealth and poverty is nestled within the worry about bearing the Lord’s name lightly. The poor are tempted to steal and deny God’s name in that way; the rich are tempted by their fullness to deny Yahweh. The double request amounts to one request, the request to be given the portion of bread that the Lord tears off. The verb translated as “feed” is “tear, rend (Genesis 37:33; 44:28; Exodus 22:13), and
the image is of a host tearing bread in pieces and apportioning those pieces to his guest. What Agur wants is to be at Yahweh’s table, to receive the bread of life that He gives, in the portion that He gives it.

Poverty and wealth come in many forms – money and houses and clothes, but also social or political influence, fame, education, skills. In all of these, our prayer should be that of Agur: Give me neither poverty so as to envy and steal, nor a surfeit that would lead me to deny God; tear off what you are pleased to give me, so that vanity will be removed from me.

Bible - OT - Proverbs

Previous Post

November 4, 2010

Table of Lord, table of demons

Next Post

November 5, 2010 Egyptian Eden

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1-2 Samuel 1968 Abelard Abortion Abraham Acedia AD 70 Adam Smith Addiction Advent Advertising Aeneid Aesthetics Africa African Christianity African Church African religion Age Aging Agriculture Airline industry Alabama Alasdair MacIntyre Albania Alcohol Allegory Alms Alternative Medicine Ambrose America American Christianity American culture American economy American Evangelicals American Foreign Policy American history American Literature American Military American Politics American Religion American Revolution Anagogy Analytic Philosophy Anamnesis Ancient Egypt Ancient Greece Ancient history Ancient Near East Ancient Religion Angels Anglican Church Anglicanism Animism Anointing of the Sick Anselm Anthropology Anthropomorphism anti-Catholicism Antiquities Antonio Lopez apocalypse Apocalyptic Apocalyptic language Apostles Creed Aquinas Archeology Architecture Arianism Aristotle Ark of the Covenant Art Art History Ascension Aseity Assurance Athanasius Atheism Athens atonement Attention Attributes Augustine Austin Farrer Authority autonomy Avant-garde Awe Bach Ballooning Balzac Banking Bankruptcy Baptism Baptists Baseball Basketball Bavinck Beatitudes Beauty Behavioral Economics Being Benedict XVI Benjamin Benjamin Franklin Beowulf Berkeley Bernie Sanders Bertrand Russell Bestiary Bible Bible - criticism Bible - NT Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians Bible - NT - 1 John Bible - NT - 1 Peter Bible - NT - 2 Corinthians Bible - NT - 2 Peter Bible - NT - Acts Bible - NT - Colossians Bible - NT - Ephesians Bible - NT - Galatians Bible - NT - Gospels Bible - NT - Hebrews Bible - NT - James Bible - NT - John Bible - NT - Jude Bible - NT - Luke Bible - NT - Mark Bible - NT - Matthew Bible - NT - Paul Bible - NT - Philippians Bible - NT - Revelation Bible - NT - Romans Bible - NT - Thessalonians Bible - NT - Timothy Bible - OT Bible - OT - Amos Bible - OT - Chronicles Bible - OT - Daniel Bible - OT - Deuteronomy Bible - OT - Ecclesiastes Bible - OT - Esther Bible - OT - Exodus Bible - OT - Ezekiel Bible - OT - Ezra-Nehemiah Bible - OT - Genesis Bible - OT - Habakkuk Bible - OT - Hosea Bible - OT - Isaiah Bible - OT - Jeremiah Bible - OT - Job Bible - OT - Joel Bible - OT - Jonah Bible - OT - Joshua Bible - OT - Judges Bible - OT - Kings Bible - OT - Lamentations Bible - OT - Leviticus Bible - OT - Malachi BIble - OT - Micah Bible - OT - Nehemiah Bible - OT - Numbers Bible - OT - Pentateuch Bible - OT - Proverbs Bible - OT - Psalms Bible - OT - Ruth Bible - OT - Samuel Bible - OT - Song of Songs Bible - OT - Torah Bible - OT - Zechariah Bible - OT - Zephaniah Biblical Law Biblicism Billy Graham biography Biology Biololgy Biotechnology Blasphemy Blindness Blog news Blogging Blogroll Bloomsbury Group Bob Dylan Body Body symbolism Boethius Boko Haram Bonhoeffer Book of Common Prayer Books Botany Boundary Brexit Britain British History British Politics Bruce Springsteen Buddhism Bureaucracy Burial Business C. S. Lewis C. S. Peirce Calendars Caliphate Calvin calvinism Camille Paglia Canon Capitalism Cappadocians Carl Schmitt Catholic Social Teaching Catholicism Catholicity Causation cemeteries Cervantes Charism Charismata Charity Charles Dickens Charles Hodge Charles Simeon Charles Taylor Charles Williams Chaucer Chermistry Chess Chesterton Chiasm children China Chinese Exclusion Act Chivalry Chopin Chretien de Troyes Christendom Christian Democracy Christian reconstruction Christianity in Britain Christianization Christmas Christology Chronology Church church and state Church architecture Church Calendar Church history Church of England Church Year Cicero Circumcision Cities City of God Civil Religion Civil Society Civil War Civility Classical Theism Classics Climate Change Clothing Coleridge Colloquy of Marburg Colonialism Color Comedy Comenius Commodity Communio Communism Community Comparative religions Computer Science Confederacy Confessionalization Conflict Congregations consciousness Consecration Conservatism Constantine Constitution consumerism Contra Faustum Conversion Coriolanus Cormac McCarthy Cosmology Cosmopolitanism Council of Trent Counter-culture Counter-insurgency Courage Courtly love Covenants Crafts Craftsmanship Cranach Creation Creativity Creator-creature Credit Crime Crime and Punishment Crisis Critical scholarship Criticism Cross Cubism Cultural theory Culture Culture War Dance Daniel Dennett Dante Darwin Dave Eggers David David Foster Wallace David Hume David Jones Deadly sins Death Debt Dechristianization Decolonization Deconstruction Defoe Deja vu Democracy Denis de Rougemont Denominationalism Derrida Descartes Developmental psychology Devils Diocletian Discipleship Disenchantment Disgust Diversion Diversity Divine energies Divine Impassibility Divine Simplicity Divine Warrior Doctrine dogma Dominion Donald Trump Dostoevsky Douglas Campbell Douglas Farrow Dreams Dualism Durkheim Dystopia E.M. Forster Early Christianity Early Modern Europe Easter Eastern Europe Eastern Orthodoxy Ecclesiology Ecclesiology Economics Economy Ecumenism Eden Edgar Allan Poe Edmund Spenser Education Egypt Election Elites Emergence Emma Emotion Empire England English History English Reformation Enlightenment Entertainment Entrepreneur environmentalism Envy Epic Epiphany Episcopals Epistemology Epistles Equality Erasmus Ernst Kantorowicz Eros Eschatology Eternity Ethics Eucharist Europe Evangelicalism Evangelicals and Catholics Together Events Evil Evolution Exile Face Fairie Queene Fairy Tales Faith family Family and Marriage Fantasy Farming Fashion Fasting Fatherhood Fear Femininity Feminism Fertility Fetishization Feud Feudalism Feuerbach Fiction Figs Film Finance Finland Fire Flag Flags Flannery O'Connor Flood myths Folly Food football Foreign Affairs Foreign Policy Foreknowledge Forgiveness Foucault Fracking France Francois Mauriac Franz Rosenzweig free will Freedom Freedom of God French Revolution Freud Funerals Future G. K. Chesterton Gambling Gaming Gay Marriage Gender gender identity Genealogy Geography George Berkeley George Eliot George Herbert; Poetry George Romanes Gerald Manley Hopkins Germany Gethsemane Gift Gifts Giorgio Agamben Global Christianity Global economics Globalism Globalization Glorious Revolution Gnosticism God's sovereignty Gods Goethe Golf Good Friday Gospel Gospels Gothic Gothic architecture Grace Grammar Gramsci Gratitude Greek Literature Greek Philosophy Greek Religion Greek Science Gregory of Nyssa Guillermo del Toro H. Richard Niebuhr Haiku hair Hamann Hamlet Handicap Handles Hands Hans Urs von Balthasar Happiness Harold Bloom Harper Lee Harvest healing Heaven Heavenly treasure Heavenly treasure Hebrew Bible Hebrew language Hegel Heidegger Hell Hellenism; Judaism; Revelation Henri de Lubac heresy Herman Dooyeweerd Hermeneutics Herod Heroic Heroism Hesiod Hidegard of Bingen Hierarchy Hieronymus Bosch Historicism Historiography History History - Early Modern History - Middle Ages Hoaxes Hobbes Holiness Holy Saturday Holy Spirit Home Homeless Homer Homosexuality Honor hope Horror Hospitality Housing Hugh of St. Victor Human Rights Humanism Humor hylomorphism Hymns Hypocrisy. Iago Iconoclasm Identity Ideology Idleness Idolatry Iliad Images Imagination Immigrant churches Immigrant Religion Immigration Imperialism Improvization Imputation Incarnation Incest India Individualism Indonesia Inequality Inerrancy Infant Baptism Infant mortality Infanticide Ingratitude Innovation Inspiration Institutions Insult Intellectual History Intellectuals Intelligent Design International Politics Internet Intimacy IQ Iran Iran-Iraq War Iraq Ireland Irony Islam Islamic State Islamism Ismail Kadare Israel Ivan Illich J. Gresham Machen J.N. Figgis Jacob Jacques Lacan James Bond James Jordan James Joyce James KA Smith James Wood Jane Austen Jane Jacobs Jealousy Jed Perl Jeff Koons Jeroboam Jesus Jewish War 66-70 AD Jihad Johann Georg Hamann Johannine Epistles John Ashbery John Behr John Bunyan John Calvin John Donne John Frame John Howard Yoder John Knox John Milbank John Milton John Owen John Rawls John Ruskin John Stuart Mill John the Baptist John Webster John Wesley John Williamson Nevin Jonathan Edwards Jorge Luis Borges Joseph Conrad Joseph Ratzinger Journalism Joy Judaism Judaize Judgment Judith Butler Jurgen Moltmann Justice Justification Kalevala Kant Karl Barth Karl Marx Karl Polanyi Karl Rahner Kazakhstan Kazuo Ishiguro Kenneth Lonergan Kierkegaard King Lear Kingdom of God Kitsch Knighthood Knowledge Korea Labor movement Lactantius Lamech Lament Landscape Language Latin America Laughter Law Law and Punishment Leftism Lent Les Murray Levi-Strauss Levites Leviticus Liber Mundi Liberal arts Liberal Theology Liberalism Light Lighthouse Linguistics LIstening Literacy Literary structure Literature Liturgics Liturgy Locke Logic Love Luther Lutheran Lutheranism Lying Lytton Strachey Macbeth Machiavelli Machines Madness Mainline Manhattan Manicheanism Manners Manufacturing Manuscripts Mao Zedong Maps Marcion Marilynne Robinson Marketing Marriage Martha Nussbaum Martin Bucer Martin Chemnitz Martyrdom Marx Marxism Mary Mary Douglas masculinity Mass Materialism Mathematics Maundy Thursday Max Weber Media Mediation Medication Medicine Medieval Church Medieval exegesis Medieval Literature Medieval theology Medieval Thought Medievalism Memory Merchant of Venice Mesopotamian Religion Messianic Metaphor Metaphysics Methodist Mexican-American War Michel de Montaigne Michel Faber Middle Ages Middle East Midwifery Mikhail Bulgakov Military Millennium Mind Miracles Miscellaneous Mission missionaries Mixed constitution Modern self modernism Modernity monasticism Monotheism Monroe Doctrine Monsters Montaigne's Essays Moral philosophy Mormonism Moses Mother Teresa Motherhood Motive Mount of Olives Movies Multiculturalism Murder Music Musicals Mutability Mutability Mystery Mysticism myth N. T. Wright Narrative Nation-State Nationalism Natural Law Natural-Supernatural Nature Nature and culture Nature and Grace Nazi Nazirite Necrophilia Nero Nestorianism Neuroscience Nevin Lectures New Atheism New Testament New York City Newbigin News NGOs Nibelungenlied Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas of Lyra Nietzsche Nigeria Nihilism Nobel Prize Nobility Nominalism Norbert Elias Norman MacCaig nostalgia Novels Numerology Obama Objectivity and subjectivity Occasionalism Odysseus Oil Old Testament Oliver O'Donovan Ontology Origen original sin Orthodoxy Othello Owen Barfield Pacifism Pactum salutis Paedocommunion Paganism Pain Painting Paleoconservatism Palm Sunday Pannenberg Parenting Pascal Passions Passivity Pastoral Care Pastoral theology Patrick Modiano Patristics Patronage Paul Peace of God Peace of Westphalia Penal substitution Pentecost Pentecostalism Perichoresis Pericles Persecution Person Peter Peter Enns Petrarch Philip K. Dick Philip Melanchthon Philosophy Philosophy of Action Philosophy of History Philosophy of language Philosophy of science Phone booth Photography Physics Pictures Pierre Bourdieu Place Planned Parenthood Plants plato Play Plot Plotinus Pluralism Pneumatology Poetics poetry Poetry & Stories Poland police Political Philosophy Political theology Political Theory Politics Pop Culture Pope Francis Popular Culture Populism Pornography Porphyry Post-Colonial Theory Post-Structuralism Postmodernism Postmodernity Potential Poverty Power Practice Pragmatism Prayer Preaching Predestination Prediction Prehistory Premillennialism Presbyterian Priesthood Prince Charles Prison Reform privacy Private Prodigal Son Progress Progressivism Property Prophecy Prophet Propitiation Prosperity gospel Prostitution Protectionism Protestantism Providence Prudentius psalms Pseudo-Dionysus Psychological Warfare Psychology Public intellectual Public Life Public Philosophy Public Theology Publishing Punk Rock Pure nature Puritanism Purity Pushkin Putin Pythagoreanism R.J. Rushdoony Race Racism Radical Orthodoxy Rape Rationality Reactionary reading Realism Reason Red State Blue State Reformation Reformational Catholicism Reformational Philosophy Reformed theology refugees reinhold niebuhr Relationality Relativism Relics Religion Religion and science Religions Religious Freedom Religious Liberty Religious Right Renaissance Rene Girard Republican Party Resurrection Resurrection. Revelation Revelations Revenge Revivalism Revolution rhetoric Richard Flannagan Richard II Richard III Richard Wagner Richard Wilbur Righteousness Ritual Robert Frost Robert Herrick Robert Jenson Robert Mugabe Robert Spaemann Robinson Crusoe Rock n' Roll Rod Dreher Rodin Roman Catholicism Roman Empire Roman Religion Romance Romanticism Rome Rootedness Rosenstock-Huessy Rousseau Rowan Williams Rural America Russia Russian literature Russian Orthodoxy Rusty Reno Rwanda S. Y. Agnon Sabbath Sacrament Sacramental theology Sacraments Sacred Sacred Space Sacrifice saints Salt Sam Harris Same-sex marriage Sanctuary Satan Satire Saudi Arabia Scapegoat Scarcity Schism Schleiermacher Scholarship Science Science and Theology Science Fiction Scopes trial Scotland Scott Adams Scott Cairns Scottish Reformation Scotus Scripture and tradition sculpture Sea Second temple Secularism Secularization Self-Help Self-trust Semiotics Semper reformanda separation of church and state Sermon on the Mount Sex Sex Trafficking Sexual abuse Sexual Politics Sexual Revolution Sexuality Shakespeare Shame Culture Shema Sherlock Shopping Silence Simone Weil Simplicity Simpsons Sin Sincerity Sixties Skepticism Slavery Slavoj Zizek Sleep Sloth Social capital Social change Social Imaginary Social Science Socialism Socialization Sociology Sociology of Knowledge Sociology of Religion Sola scriptura Sonnets Sophocles Soteriology Soviet Union Space Spain Speculation Spinoza Spirit Sport Sports Star Trek State State-formation Stephen Masty Steven Bannon Strangers Structuralism structure Subject-object Substitution Suburbs Suffering Suicide Super-Rich Superheroes Supersessionism Supplication Supreme Court Surveillance Symbol Synagogue Taberancle Tabernacle Tax Taxes Tears Technology Teens Teleology Television Temple Ten Commandments Terence Terrence Malick Terrorism Thanksgiving The South The West Theodore Roosevelt Theogony Theological Education Theological Language Theology Theology - Anthropology Theology - Christology Theology - Covenant Theology - Creation Theology - Ecclesiology Theology - Eschatology Theology - Liturgical Theology - Pneumatology Theology - Soteriology Theology - Trinity Theology proper Theopolis Theopolis Institute Theosis Theresa May Thomas A. Clark Thomas Aquinas Thomas Carlyle Thomas Mann Threshing Thucydides Time Tocqueville Tolerance Toleration Tolstoy Tom Wolfe Tools Torah Torture Toscanini Totalitarianism Trade Tradition Tragedy Transhumanism Translation Transubstantiation Travel Trees Trinitarianism Trinity Trinity House Tristan Troilus and Creysede Trump Trump Truth Turkey Twelfth Night Two Kingdoms Typology Ukraine Ulysses Uncanny Uncategorized Uniform Union with Christ United States Unity University Usury Utilitarianism Utopia Value Vatican II Vengeance Vico Victorian Age Victorian Literature Vienna Violence Virgil Virgin Birth Virginia Woolf Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Solovyev Vladimir Solovyov W.H. Auden Walls Walt Disney Walt Whitman Walter Benjamin Walter Lippmann War Wars of Religion Washington DC Wealth Weddings Will William Carlos Williams William Gilpin William Golding Wine Wisdom wonder Word of God Wordsworth Work Works World Council of Churches World History World War I World War II Worldview Worship Wrath Writing Youth Youth Ministry Yuja Wang Yves Congar Zimbabwe Zwingli Zygmunt Bauman

Select a Month January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which couple taught Apollos more accurately about Jesus in Ephesus?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Priscilla and Aquila Ananias and Sapphira Mary and Joseph Lydia and Titus