Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I live in an area where Mardi Gras is in full swing, and I can remember from my upbringing that Fat Tuesday was a last ditch effort at debauchery before the pseudo-spiritual practice of “giving something up for Lent” really began. In my youth I would give up some kind…
Part 1: Observations from the Texts (Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, Luke 5:33-39) The precipitating context for the new wine/old wineskins discussion is people asking Jesus why His disciples did not fast. His immediate answer is that you can’t get the friends of the groom to fast at the bachelor party…
Simply, “progress” means to move forward. In that sense, a slug can progress from one end of the sidewalk to the other. But for us in twenty-first century America, progress means something else. For us, it is almost a synonym for goodness. The slug can only “progress” if the other…
I have the privilege of being able to counsel a lot of women who are seeking abortions. I can tell you that the majority of them are seeking to end their pregnancies not because they feel like it would be a fun thing to do, but because they are scared…
Last night, along with a few online friends, I watched this debate on the meaning of life between William Lane Craig, Rebecca Goldstein, and Jordan Peterson, hosted by Wycliffe College. While watching it, and reflecting upon Peterson’s work more generally (about which I’ve written in the past ), I was…
I’m glad to have been invited to contribute regularly to the Theopolis Institute website. Thank you, readers, for welcoming and joining what I hope will be a venture of integration. Integration itself is what I want to explore. And for me personally, this is the shape of my current integrative…
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The schism in the American Presbyterian church following the revivals of the late eighteenth century was, Niebuhr suggests, “a conflict between two generations of Scotch-Irish, between an immigrant generation nurtured in Europe and the first native-born, frontier-bred generation” ( Social Sources of Denominationalism , 156-7). The younger generation became a…
Friends of the Theopolis Institute: Before he attended the Theopolis course on Holistic Mission during Easter term, 2014, Jonathan Sedlak lived with his family in the quiet, comfortable Milwaukee suburb of Slinger, Wisconsin. An intensive week in Birmingham changed all that. Listening to missionary Wes Baker and hashing over readings…
Further reflections on rivers in the book of Revelation, following up on an earlier note . “River”( potamos ) is used eight times in Revelation, and the eight references form a repeated pattern: A. Third trumpet, star falls on rivers; turn to poison, 8:10. B. Sixth trumpet, release angels at…
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire from heaven (Genesis 19:24). This was a response to the “outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah,” which was “very great” on account of their “exceedingly grave” sin (18:20). Presumably, the cry is the cry of the oppressed, or the cry of innocent blood that,…
S imon Gathercole ( Defending Substitution ) finds a common theme running through alternatives to substitutionary conceptions of atonement: They emphasize the cosmic and oppressive power of Sin, but downplay the role of specific acts of sin—sin s —in Paul's theology. Gathercole acknowledges that Paul can speak of Sin as…
William Swatos's 1979 monograph, Into Denominationalism , is a model of careful historical and sociological judgment. Though he relies on secondary scholarship, the book is rich in historical detail, even though it covers a wide swath of history, from Henry VIII to the establishment of the Episcopal Church in the…
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