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Writing

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

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Christendom

The Fundamentals of the Faith

Reflecting on the centennial of the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, Theopolis contributor Tim Nichols asked Dr. Leithart and me what the five fundamentals of the faith were today . His thoughts went something like this: Back in the early 20th century, in response to a ruinous drift away from the historic Christian…

by Jackson WatersNovember 26, 2025
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Matthew

Testimonium Negativum: Josephus, Matthew’s Gospel, and New Evidence for the Coming Christ

1. Introduction In this article, I delve into some parallels found in the scholarly analysis of two important literary works: the Testimonium Flavianum by Josephus ( Antiquities 18.63–64) and the Olivet Discourse in the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 24–25). These texts have been at the center of countless academic discussions,…

by Jonathan SedlakNovember 18, 2025
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Genesis

Trauma and Glory: Overcoming Suffering with Joseph

Over the last twenty years, our American culture has created a culture of obsession over trauma. This could be a result of publications such as The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, which explores the lasting effect on health that traumatic experiences can have. Or it could…

by Lindsey TollefsonNovember 11, 2025
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Uncategorized

Lips like a Thread of Crimson: Midrash on a Theme from the Song of Solomon

The Beloved celebrates the beauty of his Shulamite’s lips, describing them as “a thread of crimson” upon a mouth that is altogether lovely (Song 4:3). It were easy perhaps to pass by this all too quickly, passing it off, if we attend to it at all, as a kind of…

by Mark BriansNovember 4, 2025
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Culture

The Rule of the Incarnate

This article originally appeared at American Reformer on October 29, 2025. Reproduced with permission. Why the West Was Never Meant to Be Governed by Law Alone Back in the early nineties, I was in the candidate process for Undergraduate Pilot Training with the Texas Air National Guard, hoping to fly…

by Ronald DodsonOctober 31, 2025
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Deuteronomy

A Father’s Liturgical Logic: The Pastoral Aim of the Davidic Revolution

In his book From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution , Peter Leithart shows that David, the author of so many Psalms and the musician who trained choirs, instituted a musical and liturgical revolution of how the people of Israel worshipped. The liturgical revolution in turn was designed to…

by Ralph Allan SmithOctober 29, 2025
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Awakening

Pastor Rich Lusk observed in a sermon that the name “Jairus” (Mark 5) means “Yah awakens” ( yah ‘ur ). Others have suggested an etymology that connects ”-rus” with the verb “to give light - “Yah illumines.” Both fit with the baptismal symbolism of the passage. Jesus comes to a…

March 19, 2014

Will Russia Invade?

George Friedman doesn’t think so . Putin’s posturing over Ukraine continues his strategy of expanding Russian power and, just as importantly, of projecting the image of Russian power: “The Russians cannot simply allow [Ukrainian independence] to stand. Not only does it create a new geopolitical reality, but in the longer…

March 19, 2014

Urbanization and institutions

Near the end of his The Great Degeneration , Niall Ferguson quotes Geoffrey West’s analysis of the increasing economies of scale that come with urbanization. West argues, “the bigger the city, the more wages you can expect, the more educational institutions in principle, [the] more cultural events, [the] more patents…

March 18, 2014

What We Think With

What do we think with? wonders Craig Keen in After Crucifixion (xii). We think we think with the brain, that “elongated sphere suspended on a thin neck between the brilliant, ethereal blue sky far above to which it is drawn, and the thick, heavy torso with its stabilizing limbs held…

March 18, 2014

Examining Hearts

Ancient worshipers inspected entrails to see if their sacrifices had been accepted. Israel apparently never did so. There was nothing visible to tell them that Yahweh received them. Only His word: “that he may be accepted.” In this as in other ways, sacrifice was a pedagogy in faith and humility…

March 18, 2014

Shipping

Maya Jasanoff reviews Rose George’s Ninety Percent of Everything , a study of the gigantic and largely unnoticed shipping industry. Shipping is one of the key factors in globalization, and today’s shipping is cheap and efficient as a result of “containerization”: “In the 1960s, the shipping industry was transformed by…

March 18, 2014

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