Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The book of Isaiah has a very brief introduction, one verse, and then plunges into a searing indictment of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. They are sons who do not honor their father, worse than donkeys and oxen who at least know their master. They are a bruised and…
This is the third of a three-part essay. The Literary Reader As a conclusion to this essay, I want to make some observations that grow out of C. S. Lewis’s remarkable Experiment in Criticism , mentioned in an earlier installment. What Lewis is interested in doing is coming up with…
Metropolitan Manifesto, the new work from Theopolis fellow Richard Bledsoe, and first "Theopolis Books" release, is out today! Head over to the Athanasius Press website to get a copy. Half the world's population now lives in cities, and that is where the Church must learn to serve. Rev. Richard Bledsoe…
This is the second portion of a three-part essay. Learning to Read Learning to read the Bible is easier said than done, of course. There are several reasons for this, and they all have to do with the art of reading. Reading is an art and not a science, and…
“It instilled a real and abiding change in the way I understand my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ,” said Clint Hail, a Community Development Coordinator out of Dallas who attended Theopolis’ course on Mission to the City . “The course renovated the way I understand the challenges facing,…
What does it mean to read the Bible as inspired literature? The method is not new nor is it uncommon in Dutch Reformed circles. Exegesis must be Christocentric, plenary (all the text serves a theological purpose), respect the context in God’s redemptive plan, and plumb the full literary depth of…
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In the time of the New Testament, Judea was a multi-lingual region. Aramaic was the common speech among Jews; but most had at least a smattering of Greek, could hear Latin spoken all over Jerusalem, not to mention Hebrew in certain settings. Linguistically, first-century Palestine was far more like Switzerland…
Curtius also has an excursus on numerical composition in the patristic and medieval period. 33 was a favorite structuring device - Augustine’s Contra Faustum has 33 sections, as does Cassiodorus’s Institutione . Verse in 33 stanzas was popular, and “Nicholas of Cusa provided in his will that 33 old men…
Why would Barr, Saussure, and others think that speakers and writers have only the present meaning of a word in mind? Does it perhaps have something to do with the fact that they have only the present sense in mind? As the previous post showed, this is hardly a universal…
We’re consistently told by contemporary commentators and theorists of hermeneutics that etymologies ought not be used in biblical studies. One text says that it is “always dangerous” to interpret etymologically. There are at least two reasons for this: 1) Word meanings change, and so the original or historical meaning of…
INTRODUCTION This section of Proverbs departs from the two-line structure used through much of the book. Instead, these proverbs run to at least two, sometimes several verses. Verses 17-21, for instance, constitute a single section. Verse 18 is connected to verse 17 by the particle “for,” so that verse 18…
The English delegation to Dort didn’t want the Synod to condemn the view that reprobates can be regenerated and justified for a time, only to lose those benefits. The English delegation was successful; this was not among the errors rejected by the Synod. That is itself a remarkable fact, but…
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