Sometimes academic articles have practical spiritual value

Even as a professor at a relatively small Bible college, I acknowledge that I still live in the "Ivory Tower," so to speak. The majority of material I try to write and publish is not likely to impact the average Joe or average Josephine, at least not directly, though perhaps as a cure for insomnia. This feature of my writing is shared by the vast majority of academics. Conversely, many of the practically-minded material that is published and tries to pass itself off as academic is lacking scholarly substance (i.e., evidence of critical thinking and thorough research) and thus falls short of its potential.

Having said that, occasionally a rigorously researched piece of academia is published that actually has the potential for direct spiritual benefit. In other words, it could make a difference in your life or the life of somebody you are counseling. Let me share with you two recent examples.

First, Greg Palys, "Cut Off Your Hand, Save Your Soul: How the Outer Self Affects the Inner Self in the Fight against Lust," Themelios 50, no. 1 (April 2025):142–157 (click here for the article). Palys' article consists of a rigorous study of Matthew 5:27-30. Concluding that the command to remove one's eye or hand should be taken as "literal" yet "hypothetical," Palys notes that Jesus wants us to consider everything in our lives that causes us to lust and to eliminate it. We should be willing to part with anything, "even our physical members" if that is what is necessary. As Palys emphasizes, the external impacts the internal: "Jesus assumes that our lust itself will diminish if we obey him by removing touchpoints with lust." Practically, "Sanctification looks like repenting of lust, bathing in Scripture, and applying an internet filter."

Second, Brian R. Hand, "Feeling the Fall: A Biblical-Theological Examination of Melancholy as an Emotional Mirror of a Fallen World," Journal of Biblical Theology and Worldview 4, no. 1 (2023): 1–29 (click here for the article). Hand begins with a discussion of melancholy, depression, and related ideas, including the difficulty of defining it both here and as observed in the text of Scripture. He uses Psalm 88 as a biblical starting point, and then provides an extensive list of scriptural passages that "intersect" with the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, though also noting that lumping all such texts together into a classification of "depression" is overly simplistic. From there, Hand goes on to develop a theological discussion of how melancholia relates to the Fall and then a biblical-theology survey of "Select Texts Correlating Sorrow to the Fall." In the final section, Hand discusses application, specifically with the biblical counselor in mind.

Many other examples exist, of course, and occasionally even the most obtuse academic journal article can contain material of value that eventually impacts a preacher or layperson's understanding of Scripture. Nonetheless, Palys' and Hand's articles are excellent examples of how rigorous academic writing and practical, spiritual application need not be at cross purposes.