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

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Ascension

Ascension and Eucharist

It’s a simple point, obviously biblical and creedal: Jesus of Nazareth ascended into heaven as the God-man, and He remains the God-man in all his specific particularity from now to the end. He is Jesus the Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Duh! But Douglas Farrow shows in his…

by Peter LeithartMay 27, 2013
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Theopolis News

Register for Trinity Term Class

You can now register for the very first Trinity House intensive class, "How to Read the Bible," taught by James Jordan and Peter Leithart. There will be a kick-off welcome for students on the evening of Sunday, August 25, and the class will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church ,…

by Peter LeithartMay 22, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy as Narrative-Law

This series of essays will address the food laws in Deuteronomy 14:1-21. To some, this may seem like a work of supererogation. After all, why should a Christian be interested in outdated “laws” from the book of Deuteronomy? I hope to show that meditation on this portion of Scripture is…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 20, 2013
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Isaiah

Apocalyptic Patience

This essay was first published in 2011 in Credenda/Agenda . Isaiah 24 begins the section of Isaiah known as the “little apocalypse.” It’s a good name for this chapter. It’s a text of terror. The world is coming apart at the seams. The earth is emptied; and not only that,…

by Peter LeithartMay 15, 2013
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Biblical Studies

Anti Anti-Supercessionism

This article was first published in 2010 in Credenda/Agenda . In recent years, mainstream theology has begun to recognize the disaster that followed from the Marcionism of classical liberalism. R. Kendall Soulen is a leading figure in efforts to restore the importance of the Old Testament to Christian theology. In…

by Peter LeithartMay 13, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Law and History: How to Read the Law of Moses

This is the last in a series of studies on Deuteronomy 22:30-23:8. In this series, I have offered an interpretation of Deuteronomy 22:30-23:8 which suggests that a simple surface reading of the text does not do justice to Moses’ or God’s intention, that the larger historical and legal context in…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 8, 2013

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Idols of gold, silver, brass

At the end of Revelation 9, we are informed that even the three plagues of fire, smoke, and brimstone did not drive men to repentance. Instead, they clung to their idols. Once idols are mentioned, they are described in terms of both materials and their threefold inability. They are constructed…

September 27, 2012

Ashes for breakfast

The idolater ends up eating ashes, Isaiah says (Isaiah 44:20). In context, that fits with Isaiah’s emphasis on the fact that the idols is made from the refuse of a building project. A carpenter cuts cedar, builds a fire, cooks bread and his meat, and from the leftovers he makes…

September 27, 2012

Techno-god

Isaiah’s attack on idols elaborates on the tools and technologies that the id0l-maker uses. The smith uses an iron tool and hammer (Isaiah 44:12), the carpenter a measuring line, plane, and compass (v. 13). Several of these words are used nowhere else in the Old Testament, and this is one…

September 27, 2012

Alternative temple

Idols are substitutes for the true God. But as Isaiah describes the construction of idols in his idol polemic in Isaiah 44, the idol emerges equally as an alternative temple, an alternative “meeting place” between God and man. The echoes of the temple texts are numerous. Isaiah refers to iron…

September 27, 2012

Trinity Institute Exists!

We are now certain that the Trinity Institute exists. It’s on Facebook - www.facebook.com/TheTrinityInstitute

September 26, 2012
History

Folly about Martyrdom

Lacey Baldwin Smith’s 1997 Fools, Martyrs, Traitors: The Story of Martyrdom in the Western World (CUSA) is a maddening book. On the one hand, it is peppered with insights into the dynamics and history of martyrdom. Like: “martyrdom for all of its religious and teleological overtones is at heart a…

September 26, 2012

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