Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
joe-biden
American Politics

“Not our President”?

I think I want to respectfully disagree with Doug Wilson here . I understand him to be saying that if a candidate for elective office won that office through election fraud, that he would not really hold that office even if he was installed. I don’t have any comment to…

by Mark HorneDecember 2, 2020
jessica-delp-twxhbwesxwe-unsplash
Advent

Peace on Earth

When I was a young girl, each Christmas my grandmother would send us a sweet little ornament to hang on the tree. I still have many of those ornaments decorating my home. For a few years in a row, she selected ornaments with people from around the globe smiling or…

by Lindsey TollefsonDecember 1, 2020
screen-shot-2020-11-24-at-9-44-31-am
Manhood

The Paradox of Masculinity

I am a man. I came from a man. I have been around many men. I read books about men. Occasionally I have the opportunity to directly disciple men. And now that I have a son I have the great responsibility of teaching him to be a man. One may…

by Brian G DaigleNovember 24, 2020
unnamed-4
Architecture

Bodies and Architecture

It seems at least sane to believe that past societies experienced upheaval and disarray quite like what we are experiencing today. Perhaps we are witnessing something altogether new or greater in degree than what peoples witnessed in the past, but it doesn’t seem likely. History is filled with fissures and…

by Joe McCulleyNovember 17, 2020
kelsey-knight-udj2td3wksy-unsplash
Feast

The Church Potluck and the Biopolitical

“But for those of us to whom urban life is necessary and who cannot forego eating men, it is to our advantage to frequent the countries where one finds the most of them.” -Rousseau At All Saints Anglican in Honolulu, where I serve as rector, it has been our practice…

by Mark BriansNovember 10, 2020
screen-shot-2020-11-03-at-11-19-21-am
Biblical Studies

The Heel of Joshua

The Scriptures are replete with stories of deception. And often, strangely, it is those who we regard as righteous who are doing the deceiving. And, even more strangely, their deception is often rewarded, or even praised. Consider Jacob, Tamar, the Egyptian midwives, Rahab, to name just a few. Frustratingly for…

by Rhys LavertyNovember 3, 2020

Showing page 61 of 309

See all

Showing page 24 of 43

See all

Confessing Trinity

The point of Trinitarian theology is not simply that there are three instead of one. We can’t just plug our pre-conceptions about God into the Trinity, and say that now we are Trinitarian. We can’t assume Deism, the idea that God is a watchmaker who leaves the world to run…

December 15, 2015

The Common-Sensical Bishop Berkeley, 1

. He There is often a gap between the popular perception of a philosopher’s teaching and his own conception of his teaching. But the gap in Berkeley’s case is particularly wide. On the one hand, there is his own professed plan to justify common sense and combat skepticism. He reiterates…

December 15, 2015

Fathers and Sons in Ulysses

Joyce's Ulysses has a pendulum structure. JH Raleigh (in an essay in Joyce's Ulysses , 102) points out the contrast of filius and mater as these are the poles around which the action is organized: “solitary and single vs conjoined, both licitly and illicitly; homeless rover vs statonary huswife (husey);…

December 14, 2015

The God who Predestines

Paul begins the substance of the letter to the Ephesians by “blessing” God (1:3). As is well known, in Greek, verses 3-14 form a single long sentence, with one verb, “Blessed” (v. 3). This reflects a form of Jewish prayer, called the Berekah. It is not a request for God…

December 14, 2015

Rhetoric, Classical and Christian

In his The Invention of Christian Discourse , Vernon Robbins explains how and why Christian discourse and rhetoric diverged from classical models. Ryan Leif Hanson summarizes the argument in Silence and Praise : “Classical rhetoric understands the basic social reality of persons as based in the Graeco-Roman urban environment. In…

December 14, 2015

Retreat from Scripture

Marilynne Robinson is a theological anomaly. A self-confessed Calvinist, admirer of Calvin and Edwards, defender of original sin and predestination (which, she says right, is not determinism), she is also a self-described liberal Christian who tends to take predictably liberal positions on moral and political question and to use sneering…

December 11, 2015

Showing page 341 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.