Theopolis Logo

Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

See all
31-03-0213
Hermeneutics

Apocalyptic Eyes

Flying scrolls. Red horses. Beasts coming out of the sea. Winged women. The list goes on. Apocalyptic literature in the Bible is like a cross between science fiction and Marvel comics. And the Bible has a fair bit of this sort of thing. Daniel sees visions in Babylon, Zechariah sees…

by Toby SumpterNovember 4, 2014
bhm-skyline-2
Theopolis News

New Name, New Look

Trinity House Institute has taken a new name, the Theopolis Institute. This striking new name expresses our unique vision and mission and captures the unified purpose behind all our specific programs and activities. We still have Bible, liturgy, and culture in our tagline. We still offer the same courses on…

by TheopolisNovember 4, 2014
istock_000012860926small
Atonement

Not Fearing the Devil

Adam Kotsko offers a socio-political variation on the Christus Victor atonement theory in his 2010 study, The Politics of Redemption: The Social Logic of Salvation . He does this by explaining "the devil" in terms of the Hegelian concept of "objective spirit," Geist . As Kotsko puts it, Geist "refers…

by Peter LeithartOctober 13, 2014
jez-timms-8muutamcwu4-unsplash
Leviticus

The Meaning of Sacrifice

Two factors keep Nahtali Meshel from discussing the meaning of sacrifice until late in his The "Grammar" of Sacrifice . The first has to do with the texts he draws from: "P says little about the meaning of its rituals" (174). The other has to do with the grammatical theory…

by Peter LeithartOctober 8, 2014
jez-timms-8muutamcwu4-unsplash
Leviticus

Praxemics

Chapter 5 of Naphtali Meshel's The "Grammar" of Sacrifice focuses on "praxemics," the physical actions of sacrificial ritual. Praxemes are constituted by six elements: an "atomact," an elementary physical act or gesture; an actor; an object that is acted up; a target for the action and often for the object…

by Peter LeithartOctober 6, 2014
markus-winkler-aid-xyrtlec-unsplash
Leviticus

Jugation and Hierarchy

Two chapters of Naphtali Meshel’s The “Grammar” of Sacrifice cover what he calls “jugation” and “hierarchies.” The first involves the addition of other materials to an animal offering. Jugates include wine, cereal, and oil that are added to the animals (zoemes) that are offered in sacrifice. Some jugates are coordinated…

by Peter LeithartOctober 1, 2014

Showing page 167 of 309

See all

Showing page 11 of 43

See all

Natural gifts of Adam

A few quotations on Adam’s “natural” capacities culled from Heppe: Polanus: “The original wisdom in man’s soul was that excellence and perfection of knowledge, by which unimpaired man rightly knew God and God’s work and himself and wisely understood all things unifold, singular, and universal, and rightly compounded or divided…

May 23, 2006

Pactum Salutis

Barth (CD, 4.1) offers this challenging evaluation of the Protestant Orthodox notion of a Trinitarian covenant: “For God to be gracious to sinful man, was there any need of a special decree to establish the unity of righteousness and mercy of God in relation to man, of a special intertrinitarian…

May 23, 2006

Turretin and Pure Nature

Thanks to Joel Garver for pointing me to a couple of passages in Turretin’s Institutes where he explicitly discusses and rejects the idea of “pure nature.” A brief summary follows of Turretin’s discussion from the Fifth Topic, Question 9 follows: 1) Turretin offers several definitions of “natural,” and the relevant…

May 22, 2006

Echoes and Christology

Modern-day Arians have answers to the standard NT texts on the deity of Christ. They aren’t good answers, but they have answers. What they don’t have are answers to the many texts that demonstrate the deity of Christ through intertextual echoes. Paul says in Philippians 2 that Christ existed in…

May 22, 2006

Sermon Outline, Seventh Sunday of Easter

INTRODUCTION Hezekiah is a new David, Manasseh an idolatrous Solomon. Josiah reverses the sins of Jeroboam by bringing an end to Jeroboam’s liturgical experiments. Great as he is, he cannot save Judah from destruction. Huldah prophesies that Jerusalem, Judah, and the temple are doomed (22:16-20), and the narrator confirms that…

May 22, 2006

Eucharistic meditation, Sixth Sunday of Easter

Luke 2219: Jesus said, This is My body, which is given for you; do this as My memorial. We saw in the sermon this morning that the name “Manasseh” means “Forgetful” or even “Causing to forget.” Judah went into exile because of her forgetfulness, because King Forgetful made her forget…

May 21, 2006

Showing page 1839 of 2212

Browse by Category

In Medias Res

Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.

Donate

Theopolis is nearly 100% donor-supported. Consider joining us on our mission.