Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Theopolis is delighted to announce that we have hired Brian Moats as Assistant to President Peter Leithart. An Alabama native and graduate of Boyce College in Louisville, Brian is a professional photographer who has also worked as a salesman and dispatcher for Charter Communications and Wayne's Environmental Services. Brian and…
Over the last few years, I have had frequent cause to return to the question of the ways in which the past and its forms of liturgy should be handled within the Church today. Keeping faith with the past is seldom as straightforward an endeavour as it might initially appear,…
The book of Proverbs appears as a largely random collection of aphorisms drawn from experience saturated in law. Despite its random arrangement, however, the book does have an over-arching structure that reinforces its main themes. One way to gather clues regarding the structure of a biblical book (or any book)…
Prior to attending the week-long intensive course on Holistic Mission, my wife and I were living two counties away from Milwaukee, in the comfortably quiet and rural village of Slinger, Wisconsin. In God’s providence, after nearly ten years of living in Slinger, we realized some changes to our comfortable and…
I have many Roman Catholic friends. Leading from my time at Saint Louis University and continuing through various scholarly engagements I often get an opportunity to discuss history and theology with Roman Catholics who are very well educated in their tradition and practice, some of whom are leading scholars in…
Theopolis ended its second year of operation with its Pentecost Term course on Music in Life and Liturgy last week. Co-taught by Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio and scholar-in-residence James Jordan, the Music course was the largest Theopolis course yet. Sixteen pastors, seminary students, and music ministers from nine…
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Exodus 18’s description of Jethro’s advice to Moses seems disconnected from its context. As Martin Hauge explains ( Descent from the Mountain , 252), the story actually anticipates the entire narrative of chapters 19-40: “The story of the second day presents how parts of the Moses function were transferred to…
Recent studies of the Levitical system have questioned the “facile” links that commentators draw “between its ritual instructions and narratives, its theology, and Israel’s ritual practices” (James Watts, Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus , 15). Citing William Gilders ( Blood Ritual in the Hebrew Bible ) and Wesley Bergen (…
James Watts ( Ritual and Rhetoric , 87-88) calls attention to the repetitions of Leviticus 4-5, especially of the basic roots, cht (sin, sin offering) and ‘ shm (guilt, trespass offering): “the refrain ‘sin that he sinned . . . as sin’ appears eight times (4:3, 14, 23–24, 28, 5:6,…
Andrew Sullivan defends same-sex marriage as a “federalist” who is willing to wait for States to make the change. Not everyone is so patient, or Constitutional. CNN reports today that “Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will issue a memo Monday that recognizes same-sex marriages ‘to the greatest…
Lists typically don’t make for electrifying reading. Ancient lists in unknown languages less so. But in House Most High , A.R. George’s compilation of ancient Mesopotamian temple lists, the lists offer multiple insights into the structures of ancient religion. Topographical lists show the geographic distribution of temples; “theological” lists, lists…
For two and a half millennia, Mesopotamian cosmology saw the world as a multi-story universe. Wayne Horowitz ( Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography ) summarizes: “Sumerians and Akkadians understood the universe as consisting of superimposed levels separated by open space. From above to below, the levels were: a region of heaven above…
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