Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The book of Isaiah has a very brief introduction, one verse, and then plunges into a searing indictment of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. They are sons who do not honor their father, worse than donkeys and oxen who at least know their master. They are a bruised and…
This is the third of a three-part essay. The Literary Reader As a conclusion to this essay, I want to make some observations that grow out of C. S. Lewis’s remarkable Experiment in Criticism , mentioned in an earlier installment. What Lewis is interested in doing is coming up with…
Metropolitan Manifesto, the new work from Theopolis fellow Richard Bledsoe, and first "Theopolis Books" release, is out today! Head over to the Athanasius Press website to get a copy. Half the world's population now lives in cities, and that is where the Church must learn to serve. Rev. Richard Bledsoe…
This is the second portion of a three-part essay. Learning to Read Learning to read the Bible is easier said than done, of course. There are several reasons for this, and they all have to do with the art of reading. Reading is an art and not a science, and…
“It instilled a real and abiding change in the way I understand my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ,” said Clint Hail, a Community Development Coordinator out of Dallas who attended Theopolis’ course on Mission to the City . “The course renovated the way I understand the challenges facing,…
What does it mean to read the Bible as inspired literature? The method is not new nor is it uncommon in Dutch Reformed circles. Exegesis must be Christocentric, plenary (all the text serves a theological purpose), respect the context in God’s redemptive plan, and plumb the full literary depth of…
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Psalm 1 pronounces a blessing on the “ man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked” (v. 1). For some modern translators, it's a sexist text: Aren't women blessed when they refuse the counsel of the wicked? “Man” is not an absolutely necessary translation. The Hebrew ‘ish…
Denominational Christianity is a safety-valve. When things get too hot in a congregation, one or the other party leaves and starts its own church. Pressure reduces. Over time, the divided parties might even make up after a fashion. Denominational Christianity seems a peace treaty. Lesslie Newbigin, a leader in the…
In a recent Theopolis lecture, James Jordan pointed to the ritual of Ruth 4 to explain the significance of removing shoes on holy ground. There, a man hands over a shoe as a sign of submission and ceding authority to another. To remove shoes is to acknowledge that God is…
I went to a screening of Woodlawn last Saturday. Directed by Birmingham brothers Jon and Andrew Erwin, the film tells the true story of revival among the players on the football team at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham during a racially tense period of the 1970s. The film focuses on…
In the first volume of his Reformed Dogmatics (435-6), Herman Bavinck notes that the final end of everything is “God Himself,” since “he can never come to an end in creation but can only rest in himself.” Revelation's purpose is consistent with this overall aim. Thus “the object of revelation…
One of the many illuminating observations in Philipp Blom's Fracture is his observation that the early 20th century witnessed a massive crisis of manhood. He sees signs of it already in pre-World War I Europe (covered in Blom's The Vertigo Years ) as the rise of machinery and factory labor…
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