Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When might the Gospel according to Matthew have been written? Of course, any answer can only be speculation, but that does not mean we are reduced to groundless opinion. In this series of articles I point the way to an approach different from the general consensus among scholars today which…
In my first essay on “synopticity” I offered a rather rough definition of the phenomenon and important, though not exhaustive examples. In this essay, I want to introduce broader aspects of the phenomenon of “synopticity.” The first example that I have in mind is conventional stories, stories of different historical…
Since the judgment of Babel was followed by the initiation of the circumcision, the impending end of the circumcision in AD70 explains the significance of the first century miracle of foreign tongues. Except for a few Aramaic “teasers” in the book of Daniel, the Word of God was monolingual and…
To the best of my knowledge “synopticity” is not a word used in theology or Biblical studies, but it seems an appropriate word to describe the kind of phenomena associated with the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three Gospels tell essentially the same story with significant — sometimes…
Humor is a funny thing. It is altogether familiar yet also mysterious. What makes us laugh? Why do we find things funny? There are academic fields of study dedicated to discovering what makes things humorous. These academicians even have a journal entitled International Journal of Humor Research . No joke.…
Out of all the characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales , the Pardoner has been called the “one lost soul.” The pious Parson, who closes out the collection of tales with a sermon on the seven deadly sins and how a sinner can absolve himself of them, connects the…
Showing page 122 of 309
Showing page 2 of 43
Now to ‘Achav [were] seventy sons in Shomron And wrote Jehu’ scrolls And he sent [to] Shomron to the princes of Yizre’e’l, the elders And to the trustees of ‘Achav, saying, “Now you yourselves according to the entering of this scroll to you And with you [are] the sons of…
Explaining the meaning of the image of God, Calvin writes, “there is no solidity in Augustine’s speculation, that the soul is a mirror of the Trinity, inasmuch as it comprehends within itself, intellect, will, and memory. Nor is there any probability in the opinion of those who place likeness to…
In his account of the beginning of World War I, Europe’s Last Summer , David Fromkin notes that globalization was already well underway prior to 1914, and in fact was in some ways more advanced than at any time since: “You could go to practically anywhere in the world without…
I have been deeply skeptical about the arguments of Jacques Ellul and others concerning our enslavement to technology, as well as the arguments of Peter Berger about the “heretical imperative” that modernity imposes on us. Technological modernity tempts us, as Craig Gay has argued, to act as if God does…
Ronald Simkins has distinguished between “high context” and “low context” societies. In the former, the members of the society share many cultural assumptions and meanings; in the latter, the shared meanings are much thinner and more sporadic. Of course, the distinction is not absolute, since within a relatively “low context”…
2 Kings 5:17: Naaman said to Elisha, “Your servant will no more offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to Yahweh.” Naaman, we noted in the exhortation, was a baptized Gentile convert. That baptism in the Jordan healed him of his leprosy. That baptism was an…
Showing page 1967 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
