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Writing

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

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American Politics

In Whom Do We Trust?

"Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his…

by Gregory LaughlinMarch 31, 2015
macbeth
Literature

Macbeth and Nihilism

When it comes to the interpretation of Shakespeare, Harold Bloom is my favorite enemy. His writing is brilliant, his knowledge of things Shakespearean encyclopedic, and the insights he offers may puzzle, startle, or amaze, but they always educate. How then can he be an enemy? Because his anti-Christian bias is…

by Ralph Allan SmithMarch 31, 2015
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Theopolis News

Theopolis in the UK

Theopolis President Peter Leithart spent the last week of March lecturing on worship and sacraments in England. He delivered four lectures on liturgy in Bolton, a town north of Manchester, arguing that Christian worship must be worship fit for the king and fit for the kingdom that has come in…

by TheopolisMarch 31, 2015
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Creation

Heavenizing Earth: Eschatology in the Beginning

When we think about eschatology, we think immediately of Daniel, of Matthew 24-25, of 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Thessalonians 2, and of course of Revelation. We don’t, I suspect, think about Genesis. Perhaps Genesis 3:15, with its promise of the woman’s seed, would come to mind. So might the…

by John BarachMarch 26, 2015
baptism
Baptism

Baptism as Exorcism

Alexander Schmemann in his book, Of Water and the Spirit, expounds the question that appears in nearly all the older baptismal liturgies, “Do you renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world and all sinful lusts of the flesh.” This renunciation, according to…

by Steve WilkinsMarch 24, 2015
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American Culture

Franklin Graham and the Problem of Reaction

Franklin Graham recently posted the following statement on his Facebook page: “Listen up—Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and everybody else. Most police shootings can be avoided. It comes down to respect for authority and obedience. If a police officer tells you to stop, you stop. If a police officer tells you to…

by A. K. ShaukuMarch 20, 2015

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Wine at the Boundary

The distinction between sacred and profane is said to be a universal religious structure, but it’s remarkably rare in the Hebrew Bible. Holy things are “profaned” with some frequency (e.g., Exodus 31:14, on profaning the Sabbath) but “profane” as a noun describing a space is use only a handful of…

August 8, 2014

Priestly nation

An angel with a stamp comes from the rising sun, ready to mark the foreheads of 144,000 of God’s bondservants (Revelation 7:3). That’s just the spot where Aaron and the other high priests were marked: “Holy to Yahweh” was engraved on the golden blossom at the front of the priest’s…

August 8, 2014

Theology as Revisionary Metaphysics

Robert Jenson is a profound theologian. He is also a spritely essayist. The essay may in fact be his genre of choice. Cascade has just released a compilation of these essays under the Jensonian title, Theology as Revisionary Metaphysics . Most of the essays are fairly recent, but it’s rather…

August 8, 2014

Interpassivity

Every spring, basketball takes over my life for several weeks. I still function: I continue to do those things I tell my kids constitutes my “work.” I eat, sleep, talk, teach, write. But for a few weeks baseketball is my life. A Brazilian friend went through something similar recently -…

August 8, 2014

Tradition and Innovation in Theology

Next door, my friend Gerald McDermott responds to my piece on tradition with a brief exposition of Newman’s theory of the development of doctrine. Gerry is right that I agree with a lot of what Newman has to say about tradition and development, and the corruptions that Newman protested were…

August 8, 2014

Tradition and Innovation, Response

The following is a response from Gerry McDermott to my response to his response to my essay. The remainder of this post is from Gerry: I agree that Newman’s “continuity of principle” can be slippery in application. The question begged is indeed, “Who decides”? Which makes the question all the…

August 8, 2014

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