Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
chris-bair-ndczc5739ck-unsplash
Deuteronomy

Allusive Torah

In the first part of this essay, I argued that the story of the covenant is what unifies and grounds the laws in the book of Deuteronomy. In the third section of this essay, as part of my argument that Deuteronomy 14:1-21 forms a distinct pericope, I claimed that these…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 22, 2013
blogging-guide-k5dy18hy5jq-unsplash
Economics

So You Wanna Be Rich?

Paul ends 1 Timothy with convicting warnings about the temptations of wealth and the danger of pursuing wealth. Godliness involves contentment and gratitude for the basics – food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:8). To reinforce the point, Paul reminds Timothy that we came into the world without anything, which is…

by Peter LeithartJuly 17, 2013
channel-82-urfja47nuhu-unsplash
Catholicism

The Festival and the Mass

Like Marx himself, the Marxist sociologist Henri Lefebvre was a firm believer in the dictum that “the criticism of religion is the premise of all criticism,” though he dissented from Marx’s prior claim that the criticism of religion is essentially complete. He includes a vicious, sarcastic, Marxist diatribe against the…

by Peter LeithartJuly 15, 2013
markus-winkler-aid-xyrtlec-unsplash
Theopolis News

Biblical Horizons Summer Conference

This week, Trinity House fellows James Jordan, Jeff Meyers, Rich Bledsoe, and Peter Leithart will be lecturing in Niceville, Florida, at the Biblical Horizons Summer Conference. Fore more information, check the Biblical Horizons web site.

by Peter LeithartJuly 15, 2013
guido-jansen-nz-zat4qiuu-unsplash
Isaiah

Combustible God

Fire seems to be a motif in Isaiah 6. The chapter opens “in the year that king Uzziah died,” and we know that Uzziah died a leper because he tried to burn incense in the temple against the law of God. And in this context, in the year king Uzziah…

by Daniel StanleyJuly 10, 2013
sixteen-miles-out-d40gdcd_-he-unsplash
Biblical Studies

Rehabilitating the Quadriga

According to the medieval theory of the "Quadriga" or the "fourfold sense" of Scripture, each passage of Scripture has four dimensions of meaning. Protestants generally cast a suspicious eye on this "method" of reading. That's a mistake. It's a handy guide to the questions we should always ask as we…

by Peter LeithartJuly 8, 2013

Showing page 191 of 309

See all

Showing page 23 of 43

See all

No Sanctuary

O wen Chadwick devotes a chapter of The Reformation to “the decline of ecclesiastical power.” He reviews the effects of the Reformation on excommunication, the benefit of clergy, church property and the power of the local parish church. Sanctuary was one of the medieval institutions ended by the Reformation. Sanctuary…

February 3, 2017

Subversive Psalmody

D iarmaid MacCulloch ( Reformation: Europe's House Divided ) calls attention to the effect of Psalm-singing, spurred on by Beza's publication of a French Psalter in 1562–3: The metrical psalm was the perfect vehicle for turning the Protestant message into a mass movement capable of embracing the illiterate alongside the…

February 3, 2017
Reformation

Divided Protestantism and Silent Churches

D iarmaid MacCulloch ( Reformation: Europe's House Divided ) points to the “bizarre fortunes” of the Bremen Cathedral to illustrate the “stand-off and ill-will between the two Protestantisms,” Lutheran and Reformed: With its crucial position in the north-west of the German lands, [Bremen] had once been the very heart of…

February 3, 2017

Religious Liberty, Religious Suppression

B rad Gregory ( Unintended Reformation , 130-2) argues that, despite their obvious differences, modern states that allow free religious expression, confessional states, and totalitarian states that suppress religion have a common root. Both assume that the state determines the limits of allowable religion on its own, an assumption that…

February 3, 2017
Play

Games in the Streets

Z echariah thought utopia is a place where there are games in the streets: “the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets” (Zechariah 8:5). Anthony Esolen agrees ( Out of the Ashes , 164-5), because the fact that children play in the…

February 3, 2017

Persecution in Nigeria

D ouglas Murray reports at The Spectator on the ongoing and largely ignored persecution of Christian villages in Nigeria: “These tribal-led villages, each with their own ‘paramount ruler,' were converted by missionaries in the 19th and 20th centuries. But now these Christians — from the bishop down — sense that…

February 3, 2017

Showing page 210 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.