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1,814 illustrations — Illustrations from diverse theological traditions
In the early days of his ministry, Billy Graham used to tell of a miner who worked the deep shafts of a Pennsylvania coal mine....
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." For too long, we have domesticated...
In the wool-dyeing trade of John Calvin's Geneva, cloth did not simply become colored — it was transformed. Artisans would submerge raw wool into boiling...
In 1881, B.B. Warfield sat in his Princeton study, examining the Greek text of Ephesians 2:8-9 with painstaking precision. Every word mattered. Every tense carried...
A seminary student once approached Dr. B.B. Warfield after a lecture on the doctrine of Scripture, troubled not by textual criticism but by a failing...
In the monastery of the Incarnation in Avila, Teresa of Avila once described prayer not as speaking to God but as "being with the One...
In 1851, John Clifford discovered an old Bible in a London bookshop with a handwritten note tucked inside its cover. The note read: "Last year...
D.L. Moody once said that every time he read the Bible, he found himself looking into a mirror — and the reflection was never flattering....
When Rachel Held Evans wrote about faith after deconstruction, she described it not as a house rebuilt exactly as before, but as something new growing...
In Galatians 5:13, Paul writes that we were "called to freedom" — but then, in a move that should stop us in our tracks, he...
In deep winter, a river does not cease flowing simply because ice has sealed its surface. Beneath the frozen crust, water moves — dark, unseen,...
When Peter wrote "be holy in all you do," the Greek word *hagios* didn't mean pristine or untouched. It meant set apart — dedicated to...
In the writings of Teresa of Avila, the soul journeys through interior rooms toward union with God. But what she describes in the sixth mansion...
In 2019, a seminary professor received a stage-three cancer diagnosis. His colleagues expected devastation. Instead, they found him at his desk the next morning, Bible...
In the desert tradition, the abbas and ammas spoke of a monk who spent thirty years in solitary prayer. When a visitor finally sought him...
In 2015, a small congregation in Portland voted to become a sanctuary church for undocumented families. The decision cost them. Within six months, they lost...
When Rachel Held Evans wrote about her journey back to faith, she described confession not as a transaction — say the right words, punch your...
In 1881, B.B. Warfield arrived at Princeton Seminary carrying a conviction that would define his life's work: every syllable of Scripture is God-breathed, wholly without...
In the practice of centering prayer, there comes a moment when every thought has been released and every word has fallen away. You sit in...
In her masterwork *The Interior Castle*, Teresa of Avila describes a season when prayer itself seems to dissolve. The words stop coming. The feelings of...
In 2018, Rachel Held Evans wrote about sitting with a friend who had just been told by her church that her questions made her dangerous....
Rachel Held Evans once wrote that the Bible is not a sword to be wielded but a story we are invited into. For many who...
In 1611, when the King James translators labored over the Greek text of First John, they came to a phrase that stopped them cold: "ho...
Rachel Held Evans once wrote that prayer is not about getting God to do what we want but about opening ourselves to what God is...
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