Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
e99a2994
Creation

Why Genesis Matters

Creationism is debated widely in the US, especially when it comes to teaching creation as an alternative theory of origins in public schools. Every few months, there’s another poll showing that many Americans still believe Ussher’s claim that the world was created around 4000 BC, which always elicits a contemptuous…

by Peter LeithartAugust 20, 2014
walker-percy
Books

Canary in the Coal Shaft

Walker Percy died in 1990, but his six published novels and his collections of essays are more relevant than when he wrote them. Percy was an American Dostoevsky, and that was no accident. “The European novels,” he says in a 1974 interview, “are more philosophical, more novels of ideas.” Dostoevsky,…

by Peter LeithartAugust 18, 2014
e99a0159
Children

Parenting in the Spirit

The Spirit is God’s agent for renewing the creation, for restoring bonds between nations, for knitting together people into the body of Christ. The Spirit is the renewer of the world, and the bond of all relations. That means that if you want your family to be knit together, if…

by Peter LeithartAugust 13, 2014
francesco-zxnkxnr32ng-unsplash
Revelation

Hunter Into Prey

In their basic physical sense , the verbs translated as "persecute" in the Bible mean “chase” or “pursue,” and that fits the context quite naturally. As Pharaoh “pursued” (LXX, dioko ; Heb. radaph ) Israel into the wilderness, for example, so the dragon chases the woman back to her place…

by Peter LeithartAugust 11, 2014
the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards-me4czyke-copy
Books

Edwards Our Contemporary

Seng-Kong Tan’s Fullness Received and Returned is a densely argued, thoroughly researched, contextually sensitive study of participation in the soteriology of Jonathan Edwards. Along the way, Tan deals with many of the central themes in Edwards’s theology. As with many recent studies of Edwards, Tan’s monograph demonstrates both Edwards’s creativity…

by Peter LeithartAugust 6, 2014
trnava-university-beeyeib-am8-unsplash
Art

Portrait of the Artist as Aesthetic Martyr

The title of James Joyce’s first novel, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man indicates that it is a bildungsroman , a story of formation that describes the formative experiences of a poet who aspires to artistic greatness. The education described is Joyce’s own. The novel recounts the failing…

by Peter LeithartAugust 4, 2014

Showing page 170 of 309

See all
See all

Eucharistic Sacrifice

Luther-style: “I also want to concede that they [ministers, priests] may perform these sacrifices of thanksgiving for others, just as I can also thank God apart from the mass, for Christ and all his saints, yes, for all creatures. Therefore, the priest may think thus in his heart: “Behold, dear…

December 27, 2012

Chalcedon’s Leftovers

In his contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther (Cambridge Companions to Religion) (p. 274) , Robert Jenson remarks on the unfinished business of the Council of Chalcedon: “It is an agreed foundation for all Christian theology: as ‘one and the same’ identifiable person, Christ is both ‘one of…

December 27, 2012

Doubly Decentered

For Luther, the believer has a doubly de-centered existence. “He who trusts in Christ exists in Christ; he is one with Christ, having the same righteousness as He.” But the believer who lives by faith outside himself in Christ also lives by love outside himself in his neighbor: “a Christian…

December 27, 2012

Through a Needle’s Eye

My review of Peter Brown’s latest book is up at the Christianity Today site this morning.

December 27, 2012

Holy Things for Holy

In the Old Testament, certain interior spaces were holy because God dwelt in those spaces, consecrating them by His glory (Exodus 29). The objects that were placed in those spaces were consecrated, mostly by oil, to take their place in the presence of God. Things were holy when made fit…

December 26, 2012

Global Religious Landscape

At the Washington Post site, Max Fisher reports on some of the results of a new Pew Forum report on the global religious landscape . Fisher highlights the study’s findings about the reach of Christianity. It is, shall we say, encouraging for Christians. First in sheer numbers: “Christians are by…

December 26, 2012

Showing page 825 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.