Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
ben-white-mo9vkbg5csg-unsplash
Masculinity

Ringing the Brothel Door

Bruce Marshall once wrote that every young man who rings the bell at a brothel is unconsciously looking for God. While it is not necessarily true that the inward desire of every man is ultimately a thirst for righteousness, it is true that every sin is the disordering of a…

by Garrett SoucyOctober 31, 2023
screenshot-2023-08-08-at-11-13-28-am
Ruth

Work and Gratitude in Ruth

In a previous essay , I argued that the story which begins with Lot and culminates in Ruth’s great-grandson David follows God’s five-fold pattern of creative work as laid out by Jim Jordan: taking something in hand (in this case, the Abrahamic family), restructuring it, distributing the product of labor,…

by Josh JensenOctober 27, 2023
screenshot-2023-10-17-at-11-05-18-am
Books

Men, Marriage, and the Feminine Imperative: A Review of "Men and Marriage"

Gilder, George. Men and Marriage. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2023. 1 By 1973, the hightide of second-wave feminism had flooded the beaches of American culture. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique eroded the shores of traditional female roles by naming and stirring up further domestic discontentment. Kate Millet wrote her dissertation-turned-book,…

by Bill SmithOctober 17, 2023
job_and_his_friends
Galatians

Get Behind Me, Eliphaz!

The Book of Job is a very tortuous book. The arguments of Job and his friends are shot through with truth and error hopelessly mixed together. Every line of contentious poetry stands locked in deadly battle with every other line. As maddening as this can be for a reader who…

by Jonathan WhiteOctober 10, 2023
13071-probablyvalentindeboulogne-saintpaulwritinghi-1
Apostle Paul

Before His Conversion, Paul Knew Jesus

More than once in the last 50 years it has occurred to me that Paul might have known Jesus before He appeared to Paul on the Damascus road, but I had never taken up the notion in earnest until recently when I ran into a book by Stanley Porter titled…

by Ralph Allan SmithOctober 4, 2023
mathew-schwartz-s87bbfzviau-unsplash
Acts

Did Peter Found the Church in Rome?

The question in the title is genuine, not polemic. I could be perfectly happy to follow an ancient — and what is regarded as a well-attested — tradition. But I do not feel compelled to follow it simply because it is tradition. I would like to have arguments that Peter…

by Ralph Allan SmithSeptember 26, 2023

Showing page 27 of 309

See all
See all
Media

Distracted

Maggie Jackson ( Distracted ) writes, “One yearlong study found that workers not only switch tasks every three minutes during their workday but that nearly half the time they interrupt themselves.” And this: “Nearly a third of fourteen- to twenty-one-year olds juggle five to eight media while doing homework.” I…

February 9, 2009

Sermon notes

INTRODUCTION The Jewish leaders rejected John and Jesus, but this is nothing new. Jesus reminds them in parables that they have spent their entire history rejecting Yahweh’s servants and servants. THE TEXT “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it,…

February 9, 2009

Two brothers

Jesus’ parable of two brothers (Matthew 21:28-29) is puzzling on several levels. There is a major textual variant; the NKJV, following one tradition, puts the defiant-but-remorseful brother first and the NASB puts the compliant-but-disobedient brother first. We can address the textual question, I think, when we have figured out the…

February 8, 2009
Art

Glorified utility

Gothic architecture, Augustus Pugin argued, operated on the principles that “there should be no features about a building which are not necessary for convenience, construction, or propriety” and that “all ornament should consist of enrichment of the essential construction of the building.” Classical architecture, he thought, failed to achieve this,…

February 7, 2009
History

Sacrifice for the Emperor

Christians, Tertullian argued, were perfectly willing to offer sacrifice on behalf of the emperor, but it had to be a specifically Christian sacrifice ( Ad Scapulam , ch 2): “A Christian is enemy to none, least of all to the Emperor of Rome, whom he knows to be appointed by…

February 7, 2009

Echoes

Revelation 7 describes the sealing of the 144,000, and this number is broken up into 12,000 among 12 tribes. It is a repetitive passage, and the rhythm of tribes and numbers is reminiscent of the description of the offerings presented to the tabernacle by each tribe in Numbers 7. Both…

February 7, 2009

Showing page 1419 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.