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Writing

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

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Culture

An Introduction to the Sacred Music of Josquin

This essay is adapted from my articles in Theopolis’s In Medias Res as a series of Holy Week meditations. Like many celebrities such as Kanye or Beyoncé or Adele, Josquin des Prez (d. 1521) was often known only by his first name, in his own time as now. “Josquin” is…

by John AhernJuly 29, 2025
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Numbers

Sight and Memory: Examining the Monuments of Numbers

Sight is a major theme in the scriptures. The church has long identified sight’s relationship to the future fulfillment of the eschaton. As Paul says, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Cor 13.12). Sight is associated with…

by Matthew DarbyJuly 22, 2025
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Biblical Theology

Yahweh’s Flame: the Gospel through Symbolism

What is the chief end of man? —yes, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But how ought man–and all creation–so glorify him? I propose a Theopolitan addition to the catechism, question and answer number 1.5, begun in the last question and answered as follows: Earth’s inhabitants were created to…

by Ben LoveladyJuly 16, 2025
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Culture

Morality and the Practice of Poetry

Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. Genesis 49:21 Frederick Buechner once said, “We move into the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” In poetry, this happens by way of a compressed code of analogs; often, two or more very ordinary things begin to reveal something that…

by Garrett SoucyJuly 8, 2025
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Ephesians

The Trinitarian Structure of Obedience

The evangelical milieu of America has often lost a vision of the fruit of repentance. We tend to simplify repentance by asking for forgiveness. After all, Jesus tells Peter to forgive 70 times 7. This verse must be paired with Paul’s scoffing at the question: why not sin more so…

by Matthew CoreyJuly 3, 2025
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Luke

The Hemorrhaging Woman, the Eucharist, and the Sermon

I. The hemorrhaging woman. En route to Jairus’ house, Jesus is touched by a woman with a hemorrhage of blood (Matt 9:18–26; Mk 5:21–34; Lk 8:40–48). The story is one that many of us know very well. She has been yoked to her illness for twelve years, all of her…

by Mark BriansJuly 1, 2025

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Jeremiah in Galatians

I’ve posted a paper by a student, Lisa Beyeler, that traces out connections between Jeremiah and Galatians. Click on “Downloads” at the top of the page, and you’ll find it.

March 25, 2009
History

Defining Modernity

Hart again: “a society is truly modern to the extent that it is post-Christian.” That is, “modernity is not simply a ‘postreligious’ condition; it is the state of a society that has been specifically a Christian society but has ‘lost the faith.’ The ethical presuppositions intrinsic to modernity, for instance,…

March 24, 2009
History

Hospitals

In his new book, Atheist Delusion s, David Bentley Hart calls attention to the role of the church in providing medical care during the middle ages: “in the diakoniai of Constantinople, for centures, many rich members of the laity labored to care for the poor and ill, bathing the sick,…

March 24, 2009
History

Empire of Bases

Chalmers Johnson ( Sorrows of American Empire , and author of Blowback ) describes the American empire as an “empire of military bases”: “As of September 2001, the Department of Defense acknowledged at least 725 American military bases existed outside the United States. Actually, there are many more, since some…

March 24, 2009

Populist ricochet

Ross Douthat writes, “If the Western leadership class survives the current crisis, after all, the lesson they’re going to draw from it is relatively simple: We must never let this happen again . And while that impulse could be a spur to greater decentralization and democratization, it’s more likely to…

March 24, 2009
History

Calvin on Constantine

Calvin refers to Constantine only a handful of times in the Institutes , mainly in connection with the Donation. At one point, though, he comments him for restraining the intemperance of fourth-century churchmen (4.9.10): “when the primary article of our faith was there in peril, and Arius, its enemy, was…

March 23, 2009

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In Medias Res

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