Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I have never heard anyone say that the Bible is impractical, but I have heard people, after an in depth exegesis of a passage, ask for the practical application. Offer a class on childrearing, marriage, finance and the church members flock to it; offer a course on Leviticus, the visions…
Stones External and Internal The modern practice of dismantling the Bible into a shambles of documents authored in response to disparate historical events rather than viewing it as a unified testimony inspired by God is a surefire way to miss what is actually going on in the text. This failure…
King Asa of Judah made a strong start, purging the land of idols, altars, and images, and winning a war against the ginormous Cushite army led by Zerach. It all unraveled in his final years. From his thirty-fifth year to the forty-first year, when his reign came to an end,…
What appears to be Paul’s first recorded statement on justification comes in Acts 13, in a sermon at Pisidian Antioch. It's can serve as a summary of Paul's letter to the Romans, and throws some important light on the themes of that letter. Paul begins his sermon with a quick…
Iago as Tempter The answer to our first question — whether or not Othello is really great tragedy — has already pointed the way to the answer for the second question — Was Othello a noble Moor or a fool? The two questions, of course, are necessarily related. The fall…
When Adam McIntosh was ordained as Pastor of Saint David’s Church (CREC) in Houston on June 11, 2017, it was the culmination of decades of preparation. Adam is the product of two continents and three Christian traditions. Born in Paducah, Kentucky, he lived his early years partly in Jericho, where…
Showing page 110 of 309
Showing page 3 of 43
Before Yahweh ever promises that Abraham’s seed through Sarah will multiply, He promises that to Ishmael (Genesis 16:10). The line goes from Adam to Noah to Ishmael; he is the first Abrahamic new Adam, before Abraham himself is described in these Adamic terms. This is further support for Paul’s allegory…
“A wild beast has killed him,” Jacob says of Joseph when he sees the bloody robe. Suffering, death, wild animals, a robe stripped off - it’s all back in Psalm 22: “Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me,…
MacMullen thinks Constantine deserves the title Maximus , if only for the establishment of Constantinople. After summarizing its place in Europe and role in subsequent European history, he says, “As a founder, Constantine belongs in the company of Romulus and Alexander.”
Constantinople’s “birthday” occurred on May 11, 330. Most of the festivities took place in the newly built forum, at the center of which “stood a porphyry column bearing a gilt statue of the emperor. It held on its right hand the orb of world power. Inside the orb was a…
In 324, Constantine, then ruler of the Western Empire, went to war with his Eastern counterpart, Lincinius. Ramsay MacMullen describes it as having the “character of a crusade”: “For Constantine, the battle cry was not legitimacy, though indeed he was the senior Augustus and thought he now dusted off the…
Athanasius that the God of the Arians cannot create. If God is a maker, then “his creative Word” must be “proper to him” and not outside Him: “If, on the one hand, the willing [to create] belongs to him, and his will is productive and sufficient for constituting the things…
Showing page 1467 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
