Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
james-coleman-642705-unsplash
Biblical Studies

The Literary Structure of the Whole Bible

In this essay we will think about how the whole Bible is structured as one Word of God. To begin with, there is only one Bible, not two. While we divide the Bible into Old and New Testaments, that division has no more meaning than divisions into chapters and verse,…

by James B. JordanMay 16, 2019
img_1689
Catholicity

Catholicity and Integrity

How should one badly bruised and inadequate church relate to another? (I am not addressing the blessed possessors of absolutely perfect churches, naturally.) I believe there are three things to bear in mind. First, we must be open to the values in other Christian traditions - even Roman Catholic and…

by James B. JordanMay 14, 2019
screen-shot-2019-05-09-at-2-51-07-pm
Chiasm

Fertile Meaning

The third and sixth day have a second creative act. Note the chiastic arrangement of the material in these special acts and the parallelism between them, see the figure below. The author arranges the description of each day as a chiasm. Each line in the chiasm is mated with a…

by Scott FairbanksMay 9, 2019
29994-adam-and-eve-in-the-garden-of-eden-800w-tn
Biblical Theology

Nakedness and Clothing

Now the two of them were naked, the man and his woman, and they did not sense shame (Genesis 2:25) The nakedness of Adam and Eve requires several comments. First of all, against those who think that nakedness is what God intended for humanity as a permanent estate, we have…

by James B. JordanMay 7, 2019
screenshot-2023-10-27-at-1-23-26-pm
Epistemology

Restoring the “Other” in Mother

I’ve been reflecting on the meaning of integration, and our longing for integration in a fragmented world. I’ve been connecting my own covenant epistemology further with the thought of scientist-philosopher Michael Polanyi, artist Makoto Fujimura, and Classical Christian metaphysician D.C. Schindler. In my last post , and now in this…

by Esther Lightcap MeekApril 30, 2019
sixteen-miles-out-al48tflf4e8-unsplash
Hermeneutics

Go Tell that Vixen!

Luke 13:31-33 is one of the strangest passages in the Gospel of Luke. It begins with a time note that sounds emphatic “At that very hour.” Then, we are told of Pharisees bringing a message that Herod wants to kill Jesus! In His answer, Jesus speaks of a three day…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 23, 2019

Showing page 79 of 309

See all

Showing page 31 of 43

See all
American Politics

House Divided Stands?

Philip Terzian isn't much disturbed by the tumult in the Republican Party. He concedes that the Party is going through some changes, whose outcome remains to be seen: "The coalition that propelled Donald Trump into the White House may be a harbinger of the party’s future, or it might have…

December 8, 2017

Death and the Community

In his Death, Burial, and Rebirth in the Religions of Antiquity , Jon Davies attends to the communal significance of the deaths of biblical patriarchs. He writes, "Jacob is gathered ‘unto his people,' not explicitly unto his God. On the orders of his son Joseph, Jacob was embalmed (a rare…

December 8, 2017

Rough Trade

Julie Bindel's study of The Pimping of Prostitution takes a sustained, unrelenting look behind the veil of what's euphemistically called "sex work." According to the TLS reviewer , Bindel's study is based on "interviews with fifty current or former sex workers in thirty-five countries, from New Zealand to rural India,…

December 8, 2017

Sociology and Common Knowledge

"We encounter reality only if we approach it on all the paths which we, as creatures, can tread," writes Rosenstock-Huessy ( In the Cross of Reality , 230). He's commending his quadrilateral cross of reality, arguing that we must pursue the fourfold path of "the soul, of reason, culture, and…

December 8, 2017

Before the Two Cultures

CP Snow's famously complained about the divergence between "two cultures" of humanism and science. Among Romantic poets, the humanist resistance to science is best exemplified by Blake. As Algis Valiunas observes , Blake's "unflattering" painting of Newton depicts him as "a consummate specimen of a particular human type, and it…

December 8, 2017
Poetry

For Easy Poetry

"Once upon a time," writes Anthony Madrid , "there were two traditions in Anglophone poetry. On the one hand, there was poetry that was completely easy to understand and whose elegance depended on translucent phrases and straightforward sentiments. On the other hand, there was the hard stuff: poetry where the…

December 8, 2017

Showing page 115 of 2212

Browse by Category

In Medias Res

Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.

Donate

Theopolis is nearly 100% donor-supported. Consider joining us on our mission.