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Writing

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

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Christendom

The Fundamentals of the Faith

Reflecting on the centennial of the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, Theopolis contributor Tim Nichols asked Dr. Leithart and me what the five fundamentals of the faith were today . His thoughts went something like this: Back in the early 20th century, in response to a ruinous drift away from the historic Christian…

by Jackson WatersNovember 26, 2025
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Matthew

Testimonium Negativum: Josephus, Matthew’s Gospel, and New Evidence for the Coming Christ

1. Introduction In this article, I delve into some parallels found in the scholarly analysis of two important literary works: the Testimonium Flavianum by Josephus ( Antiquities 18.63–64) and the Olivet Discourse in the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 24–25). These texts have been at the center of countless academic discussions,…

by Jonathan SedlakNovember 18, 2025
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Genesis

Trauma and Glory: Overcoming Suffering with Joseph

Over the last twenty years, our American culture has created a culture of obsession over trauma. This could be a result of publications such as The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, which explores the lasting effect on health that traumatic experiences can have. Or it could…

by Lindsey TollefsonNovember 11, 2025
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Uncategorized

Lips like a Thread of Crimson: Midrash on a Theme from the Song of Solomon

The Beloved celebrates the beauty of his Shulamite’s lips, describing them as “a thread of crimson” upon a mouth that is altogether lovely (Song 4:3). It were easy perhaps to pass by this all too quickly, passing it off, if we attend to it at all, as a kind of…

by Mark BriansNovember 4, 2025
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Culture

The Rule of the Incarnate

This article originally appeared at American Reformer on October 29, 2025. Reproduced with permission. Why the West Was Never Meant to Be Governed by Law Alone Back in the early nineties, I was in the candidate process for Undergraduate Pilot Training with the Texas Air National Guard, hoping to fly…

by Ronald DodsonOctober 31, 2025
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Deuteronomy

A Father’s Liturgical Logic: The Pastoral Aim of the Davidic Revolution

In his book From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution , Peter Leithart shows that David, the author of so many Psalms and the musician who trained choirs, instituted a musical and liturgical revolution of how the people of Israel worshipped. The liturgical revolution in turn was designed to…

by Ralph Allan SmithOctober 29, 2025
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Sermon Outline, January 23

INTRODUCTION The man of God from Judah and the old prophet both prophesied against Jeroboam?s idolatries. In this passage, a third prophet, Ahijah of Shiloh, prophesies the end of Jeroboam?s house. When Jeroboam?s son dies, Jeroboam and his house have no future. THE TEXT ?At that time Abijah the son…

January 17, 2005

Eucharistic Meditation, January 16

1 Kings 13:31: ?And it came about after he had buried him, that the old prophet spoke to his sons, saying, ?When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.?? One of the fascinating things about this…

January 16, 2005

Exhortation, January 16

The writers of Scripture conclude prayers, letters, and praise with ?Amen.?EBut ?Amen?Eis not just an ancient way of saying ?The End?Eor ?We?re finished with that now.?EThe word is from the Hebrew word for ?believe?Eor ?prove faithful,?Eand when used at the end of a prayer or praise, it is an oath…

January 16, 2005

Structural Features of 1 Kings 13

1 Kings 12:25-13:34 hangs together as a single unit. The chapter break is very bad. There is a clear inclusion between 12:25-31:3 and 13:33-34. The oracle of the prophet of Bethel in 13:32 brings up the altar in Bethel and the ?houses of the high places?Ethat were mentioned in 12:31,…

January 14, 2005

Will and Nature

Is the begetting of the Son an act of God’s will or nature. Barth, with the tradition, says that it is not an act of God’s will if will means the freedom to be thus or not to be thus. “God cannot not be God,” and Barth is correct that…

January 14, 2005
History

1421

Gavin Menzies, 1421: The Year China Discovered America (New York: William Morrow, 2002), 552 pp. Pursuing his passion for medieval cartography, Gavin Menzies, a veteran of the British Royal Navy, discovered a 1424 Venetian map that showed four strangely named islands. He concluded that two of them ?Eidentified by the…

January 13, 2005

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