Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
What is below is fairly self-explanatory. This is an exchange I had with a local liberal clergyman on the subject of abortion. The circumstances of the debate are included in the text itself. I initially e-mailed this out to a list of clergy in our city after a local (and…
The seemingly humdrum parts of the Bible often hide overlooked wisdom. Take, for example, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Their stories aren't exactly the most gripping or memorable. They are far less concrete than, say, the story of the Exodus. No one in Ezra is stricken blind or devoured…
For most of the past century, philosophical perspectives on life in the western world have been overtly grim and pessimistic. The optimism of the Enlightenment, generated by confidence in the scientific method and the potential of an increasingly civilized humanity to redress the evils of the world, was shattered by…
Chiastic structures are found all over the Bible, and in recent decades commentators have become more adept at spotting them. But identifying these literary structures is only part of the challenge. There remains the challenge of understanding what they mean. Part of the answer is found in the recognition that…
Part 1 can be found HERE . Clearly, more than just getting worship right is important in changing the world, but since worship is the central act of God’s people, performed on the first day of the week at the center of the world before the very face of God,…
“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed.” ( Luke 11:27 ) Arguing for Christian morality in a secular society is difficult. A culture which accepts evolutionary dogma has no intellectual place — or inherent desire — for absolute morality, since it believes morality…
Showing page 141 of 309
Showing page 14 of 43
Ken Jackson's Shakespeare & Abraham is not, he says, “a traditional study of literary borrowing or influence that primarily seeks to link Genesis 22 and Shakespeare via philological evidence.” He does note verbal echoes and allusions (Shakespeare's use of the Abrahamic “Here I am” at critical moments in some plays),…
Nearly all our terms for immaterial concepts were originally terms for material objects. Words for “spirit” originally meant “breath” or “wind”; we use “conceive” to refer to a mental act, but it originally signified grasping with the hand (42). That has led, Owen Barfield wrote ( History, Guilt, and Habit…
Barth ( Church Dogmatics , 3.2, section 44) discusses gratitude under the heading of “man as a creature of God,” but creatureliness needs to be seen in a particular way. Man is summoned by the word of grace, by God’s address and affirmation of man. We are “called into life…
Luke 1 is Trinitarianly odd. Our creeds, growing out of Matthew 28:18-20 and other biblical texts, speak of the order of the Trinity as “Father, Son, Spirit.” That reflects the order of the economy: The Father does send the Son; and then the Son ascends to heaven, and sends the…
It's significant, writes Walter Kasper ( Handbook of Spiritual Ecumenism ), that “Jesus did not primarily express his desire for unity in a teaching or in a commandment to his disciples, but in a prayer to his Father. Unity is a gift from above, stemming from and growing toward loving…
Nation states have enormous power, which can be projected outwardly and exercised within. We can bomb targets on the other side of the world; the NSA can find out whom you call when for how long. It's also become clear that nation-states are also deeply vulnerable. The most sophisticated technologies…
Showing page 347 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
