Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
This essay is adapted from my articles in Theopolis’s In Medias Res as a series of Holy Week meditations. Like many celebrities such as Kanye or Beyoncé or Adele, Josquin des Prez (d. 1521) was often known only by his first name, in his own time as now. “Josquin” is…
Sight is a major theme in the scriptures. The church has long identified sight’s relationship to the future fulfillment of the eschaton. As Paul says, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Cor 13.12). Sight is associated with…
What is the chief end of man? —yes, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But how ought man–and all creation–so glorify him? I propose a Theopolitan addition to the catechism, question and answer number 1.5, begun in the last question and answered as follows: Earth’s inhabitants were created to…
Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. Genesis 49:21 Frederick Buechner once said, “We move into the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” In poetry, this happens by way of a compressed code of analogs; often, two or more very ordinary things begin to reveal something that…
The evangelical milieu of America has often lost a vision of the fruit of repentance. We tend to simplify repentance by asking for forgiveness. After all, Jesus tells Peter to forgive 70 times 7. This verse must be paired with Paul’s scoffing at the question: why not sin more so…
I. The hemorrhaging woman. En route to Jairus’ house, Jesus is touched by a woman with a hemorrhage of blood (Matt 9:18–26; Mk 5:21–34; Lk 8:40–48). The story is one that many of us know very well. She has been yoked to her illness for twelve years, all of her…
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In his contribution to Must Christianity Be Violent?: Reflections on History, Practice, and Theology , Milbank points out that “the monasticization of the whole of society is much more difficult than the monasticization of the celibate few” (197). Any attempt to establish a quasi-monastic way of life for laity has…
A typically rich passage from Milbank ( Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason ): “Augustine’s critique of pagan religion concerns also its many gods and the ritual relations of the city to these gods. A diversity of gods, governing different areas of cultural life, implies that these areas may…
Writing in the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch , Rob Portman proves his credentials as a Good Republican. When he found that his son is gay, he questioned his earlier opposition to gay marriage: “I wrestled with how to reconcile my Christian faith with my desire for Will to have the same…
Much of Thomas’s discussion of Jesus’ resurrection has an “Abelardian” flavor. The resurrection is less an integral part of the “accomplishment” of redemption and more a support for the life of the believer. Of the five reasons given for the necessity of the resurrection, only one is about the achievement…
Christ’s death delivered from sin. It’s less often recognized that Jesus’ death also glorifies; by His suffering, He brings “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). Thomas makes a place for “glorification” as an effect of Christ’s death largely by his attention to the liberation of the saints from Abraham’s bosom…
In a review of a surrealism exhibit at the LA County Museum of Art, Sanford Schwartz comments on the dilution in the meaning of the word “surreal”: “Surrealism has entered the language as a synonym for almost anything that seems odd, uncanny, or freaky. For some, the very word connotes…
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