Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
screen-shot-2019-09-03-at-7-00-44-am-2
Biblical Studies

Genesis 38 from Multiple Angles (Part 2)

Summary : The Bible is a multi-faceted text. As a result, it can fruitfully be analyzed in many ways. Pace, context, flow, imagery: all of these aspects of the Biblical text are significant and instructive. Here, by way of illustration, I analyze Gen. 38 in a range of different ways,…

by James BejonOctober 22, 2019
screen-shot-2019-09-03-at-7-00-44-am-2
Hermeneutics

Genesis 38 from Multiple Angles (Part 1)

Summary: The Bible is a multi-faceted text. As a result, it can fruitfully be analysed in many ways. Pace, context, flow, imagery: all of these aspects of the Biblical text are significant and instructive. Here, by way of illustration, I analyse Gen. 38 in a range of different ways, and…

by James BejonOctober 15, 2019
eco-warrior-princess-tsoeguwwzwo-unsplash
Biblical Theology

Church Planting as Garden Growing

The closing chapters of the Bible bring to fulfillment the mission inaugurated in the opening chapters of the Bible: the dwelling place of God expands to fill the entire new creation. The story of Scripture concludes having achieved God’s original intent for His people in the Garden of Eden, and…

by Drew KnowlesOctober 8, 2019
annie-spratt-rx1ij59jryu-unsplash
Economics

Gift Economies Aren't So Giving

Oddly, the nature of pre -modern economies plays a central role in today’s policy debate over economic globalization and neo-liberalism. Analysts take ancient non-market economies as the standard against which to measure the economic and social effects of the market system. Scholars compare the distribution of economic goods and services…

by James R. RogersOctober 1, 2019
20121120_1642723459__76354-1391444640-1280-1280-1014x487
Luke

Zacchaeus, (Part 2)

In part one of this essay, I mentioned that the story of Zacchaeus includes not only many details that point to other passages in Luke, but also details that point to the Old Testament, though we might not initially think of them. The first detail I have in mind is…

by Ralph Allan SmithSeptember 24, 2019
20121120_1642723459__76354-1391444640-1280-1280-1014x487
Luke

Zacchaeus (Part 1)

The story of Zacchaeus includes numerous interesting details that link this story with others in the Gospel of Luke. There are also details that tie the story of Zacchaeus to the Old Testament in ways that we might not initially take note of. In the Gospel of Luke, the story…

by Ralph Allan SmithSeptember 17, 2019

Showing page 74 of 309

See all

Showing page 26 of 43

See all

Three to Four

The Lamb’s worthiness to take the book is triple (Revelation 5:9-10). He is worthy because: 1) He was slain 2) He purchased with His blood 3) He made the purchased-ones a kingdom and priests The second and third of these meritorious acts, though, move out into a four. He purchased…

May 16, 2014

Potter, Clay, and Divine Repentance

In a subtle discussion of divine repentance, R.W.L. Moberly ( Old Testament Theology , 122-3) offers this complex reading of Jeremiah 18:1-10. Rather than a contradiction, he suggests that it offers a “striking paradox.” The imagery “strongly emphasizes divine power,” yet at the same time “we have a strong statement…

May 15, 2014

Pastoral Carnality

Gordon Lathrop’s The Pastor: A Spirituality is a wise and beautiful book, to be savored slowly. It’s not perfect; it’s marred here and there by a form of lefty Lutheranism. But it’s such a lovely book that it seems almost obscene to review it. I’ll limit myself to quoting a…

May 15, 2014

Ussher’s Soteriology

A recent addition to Oxford Studies in Historical Theology, Richard Snoddy’s Soteriology of James Ussher offers a detailed study of an important but neglected figure. If he is known at all, Ussher is known today as a chronologist. Snoddy’s is one of several recent works that shows the breadth of…

May 15, 2014

No Place To Hide

As legal affairs correspondent for the Nation , David Cole is no apologist for the NSA. But he argues in his Washington Post review of No Place To Hide that Glenn Greenwald undermines a compelling argument by hyperbole and his failure to acknowledge the limits on NSA activity: “Greenwald’s descriptions…

May 15, 2014
Atonement

The Cross in History

Theodore Jennings doesn’t think that traditional notions of atonement speak to the contemporary world. We are “no longer familiar” with the language of sacrifice, and that is partly because of Christianity itself: “the Letter to the Hebrews is an essay that largely aims at the destruction of the notion of…

May 15, 2014

Showing page 609 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.