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

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Romans

Hymn of the Justified

Romans 8:31-39 is better sung than commented upon. It’s a thrilling, ecstatic hymn of boisterous assurance that God’s purposes will be accomplished. Yet, I will attempt to comment on them. If we sing Paul’s hymn, let’s make sure we sing with understanding. Given the character of these verses, it’s easy…

by Peter LeithartJuly 20, 2017
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Culture

Growing up Nostalgic: Perpetual Adolescence and the Kingdom Come

"An ethic unshaped by eschatology is neither Jesus’ nor Christian.” - Tremper Longman How does an immature culture grow up? Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver is about the dangers of being lost in adolescence. By the end of the movie, the viewer is pointed to a road we infer leads to…

by Dustin MesserJuly 18, 2017
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Theopolis News

The Theopolitan Society

We are in the middle of our campaign for the end of the fiscal year. We've raised $30,000 from some major donors, and need to raise another $70,000 to meet our budget. Please consider becoming a regular donor , and keep reading to learn about a great opportunity. This brief…

by Brian MoatsJuly 17, 2017
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Baptism

Strong Magic Takes Blood

Prolegomena 1. “You’re a pastor,” my new friend says as we sit down, “and you’re a massage therapist. How does that work?” To her, Christianity implies stuffy ideology, a disregard of the physical. A Christian massage therapist is an oddity; a pastor massage therapist is nearly a contradiction in terms.…

by Tim NicholsJuly 13, 2017
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Politics

Why Poles Love Trump

54% of Poles think favorably of Americans, only 13% unfavorably, according to Centrum Badania Opinii Spolecznej . Ten years ago, the numbers were 44% and 21% respectively. Twenty years ago, they were 64% and 6%. Back in the 1990s, Americans were the most liked nation among Poles. Now they are…

by Bogumil JarmulakJuly 11, 2017
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Biblical Theology

Stones and Fruit: Divination and Procreation – (Part Two)

Stones of Life and Death Of course, the sex of a child is not a choice between light and darkness or life and death. Sex, like circumcision, is a horizontal demarcation, a delegation of roles within humanity. In contrast, the white stone and the black stone within the “liturgical scrotum”…

by Mike BullJuly 7, 2017

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Theology

Wedding Sermon

So far as Scripture is concerned, the marriage of Adam and Eve was the first, and the last, nude wedding. As soon as Adam sinned, he and Eve made aprons, and later the Lord replaced those with animal skins. Clothing is mercy, hiding the shame of sin. But clothing is…

July 11, 2005
Literature

Lot Complex

Once he points it out, you see it everywhere. In Lot’s Daughters , Robert Polhemus analyzes the Lot Complex, a mirror-image of the Oedipal Complex and nearly as universal in Western cultural imagination. He traces the interpretation of the story of Lot and his daughters from Genesis to the Reformation,…

July 7, 2005

Triune trust

Trust in any circumstances is a paradox. On the one hand, trust requires intimacy. We grow in trust by sharing things with a trusted friend that we would not with others. Trust demands that protective veil be drawn between those allowed “inside” and those kept “outside.” Yet trust requires also…

July 7, 2005

Translation, 2 Kings 14

In the second year to Yo’ash son of Yo’achaz king of Yisrael Reigned-as-king ‘Amatzyahu son of Yo’ash king of Yehudah. A son of twenty-five years he was in his reigning-as-king And twenty-nine years he reigned-as-king in Yrushalaim. Now the name of his mother Yeho’adayn from Yerushalaim. And he did the…

July 6, 2005

Amaziah of Judah, Jehoash of Israel

There are some confusing twists in 2 Kings 14:1-16. The chapter begins by announcing the beginning of the reign of Amaziah son of Joash of Judah. He is described as an upright king, walking in the ways of his father Joash, though he is not a king of Davidic caliber.…

July 6, 2005

Ecclesial “denotation”

In his books, Ephraim Radner offers numerous profound insights into the complications and implications of a divided Christianity. Near the beginning of Hope Among the Fragments , he points to some of the dangers of post-Reformation efforts to “denote” the church -that is, to describe the church as “something that…

July 4, 2005

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