Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
hebrew-manuscript-2
Joshua

Passover and the Structure of Joshua 2

The initial chapters of Joshua demonstrate that Joshua is a new Moses, completing the task that Moses began. Moses is named ten times in the first chapter; though dead, he still dominates the scene. The book begins with the announcement of Moses’ death (1:1); Yahweh promises to fulfill what He…

by Peter LeithartNovember 27, 1997
tim-marshall-k2u71wv2ei4-unsplash
Apologetics

Apologetics Without Apologizing, Part 3 | Knowing & Explaining What & Why You Believe

The way in which you should defend and prove the Christian Faith and the way in which you debunk alternative belief systems is not the same way that you came to know that Christianity is true and that all alternatives are false. This is important because confusing the two ways…

by Mark HorneNovember 15, 1997
korney-violin-b6ihcrsxnke-unsplash
Apologetics

Apologetics Without Apologizing, Part 2 | Attacking Atheism Without Inviting Idolatry

If we want to learn the best way to proclaim and defend the Gospel, we can do no better than to go to the Bible for guidance. Indeed, not only do we find examples for how to present God’s Word, but we also find examples of problems we will face.…

by Mark HorneNovember 15, 1997
papaioannou-kostas-tysecum5hja-unsplash
Apologetics

Apologetics Without Apologizing, Part 1 | When Witnessing Becomes Prosecution

As Christians we all want to see nonchristians convert to faith in Christ by the grace of God. Even more, we probably want to be instrumental in such a conversion–for that would be a special blessing. But let’s be honest: we all hope that such an opportunity will be a…

by Mark HorneNovember 15, 1997
jordan-wozniak-xp_agmeea6s-unsplash-2
Biblical Chronology

The Sequence of Events in the Creation Week, Part 2

Day 3 The third day completes the initial structuring work and the initial filling work. First, God separates land and sea, putting the sea below the land. This reproduces the configuration that has just been set up in heaven: land over sea. The earth is being modelled after heaven. There…

by James B. JordanNovember 4, 1997
screen-shot-2022-05-12-at-12-07-23-pm
Biblical Horizons

The Structure of the Psalter, Some Observations

In this essay, I wish to present some facts not familiar to many Christians, and draw some possible inferences. My purpose is to help us all become more familiar with the Psalter as God has set it out in its final and canonical form. To begin with, let us consider…

by James B. JordanNovember 4, 1997

Showing page 252 of 309

See all
See all
Theology

Privatio boni

Milbank makes a couple of interesting points regarding the import of an Augustinian view of evil. 1) Augustine’s view assumes the goodness of matter, in fact the goodness of all being. This, Milbank claims, seems to excuse evil - it’s some lack, a weakness or finitude, that makes for evil.…

July 11, 2007
Theology

Privatio boni and banal evil

In the view of many, the Holocaust belied the Augustinian description of evil as the privation of good. Something much more insidiously positive was at work in the death camps. Hannah Arendt, however, seems to confirm the Augustinian perspective in her treatment of the banality of evil. According to Milbank,…

July 10, 2007
Philosophy

Argue, or obey?

Kant bristles at the demand that he claims to hear “on all sides”: ” Don’t argue !” Officers tell us to obey, tax-officials to pay, clergy to pray in a certain way. But Kant wants to argue. Or does he? Maybe not: “in some affairs which affect the interests of…

July 10, 2007
Philosophy

The duty of enlightenment

Kant’s appeal in “What Is Enlightenment?” is not primarily intellectual but ethical. Enlightenment, Kant says, “is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.” Immaturity he defines as “the inability to use one’s own understanding without the guidance of another,” and this immaturity is “self-incurred” when the cause is “lack of resolution…

July 10, 2007
American Religion

Americanism

David Gelernter, Americanism: The Fourth Great Western Religion . New York: Doubleday, 2007. 229 pp. Hardback, $24.95. America, G. K. Chesterton said, is a nation with the soul of a church. David Gelernter, the polymathic computer scientist from Yale, suggests that this doesn’t quite go far enough. For many, both…

July 10, 2007

God’s Whimsy

Wiker and Witt suggest that God created pandas as “comic relief” in a blessed fit of “divine whimsy.” The suggestion is troubling even for Christians who defend creation, because, being engineers, they have swallowed the reductive notion that creation must be functional. Wiker and Witt offer this rejoinder: “To spurn…

July 9, 2007

Showing page 1658 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.