Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Paradosis Center at John Brown University in Siloam Spring, Arkansas, put on its first conference last week, it was a remarkable event. It was an ecumenical conference including Orthodox (John Behr, Edith Humphrey, others), Catholic (Rusty Reno, Michael Root, others), and Evangelical (Timothy George, David Lyle Jeffrey). Unusually for…
Naphtali Meshel observes in his new The "Grammar" of Sacrifice that scholars have been talking for decades about the "grammatical" character of ritual and sacrifice in general, but have never actually analyzed a specific ritual or sacrificial system grammatically. Some even talk about a "universal grammar" of sacrifice "even though…
Some Christians are rather breezy about the problem of evil. We shouldn't be. Do I need to remind you of the grisly beheadings that have taken place over the past few weeks? Do I need to remind you of the blood of innocents that’s been spilled in our own country?…
Have you ever been to a wedding where the heavens opened and a voice declared the couple “husband and wife”? Few of us have. Beautiful as they are, most marriages are quite mundane. Yet when Jesus talks about marriage, He describes it as something that God does: “What God has…
Jesus is the last and greatest of the Prophets. He is the Prophet that Moses predicted (Deuteronomy 18). That means He gives the final word, brings the blueprints for the final temple, speaks the final world into existence, and has complete and permanent access to the divine court, where He…
Paul stands against those who are “troubling” or “disturbing” the Galatians churches ( tarasso ; 1:7; also in 5:10). The reference seems to be two great troublers from the Old Testament. First, Achan is described as a “troubler” for the problems he causes in the aftermath of the battle at…
Showing page 168 of 309
Showing page 31 of 43
In his Life of Moses, Gregory of Nyssa remarks on the fact that Moses was nursed by his own mother while growing up in Pharaoh’s household: “This teaches, it seems to me, that if we should be involved with profane teachings during our education, we should not separate ourselves from…
From a quick overview, The Oxford History of Christian Worship (2006), edited by Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker, looks to be one of those indispensable reference works. The editors have assembled an international group of contributors, and there are chapters not only on all the usual issues and…
David Bell has an illuminating article on France in the November 28/December 5 issue of TNR. Contrary to many commentators, he argues, France has a long history of assimilating minorities: “France has been a multiethnic country for a very long time, and, for decades, it did as well as any…
A few further thoughts on the genealogy of Jesus: 1) Twice in Matthew’s genealogy, “brothers” are mentioned: Judah (1:2) and Jeconiah (1:11). David Garland suggests that this sets up the theme of Jesus’ brothers that runs through the gospel (cf. eg. Matthew 25); like Judah and Jeconiah has His own…
A few further thoughts on the genealogy of Jesus: 1) Twice in Matthew’s genealogy, “brothers” are mentioned: Judah (1:2) and Jeconiah (1:11). David Garland suggests that this sets up the theme of Jesus’ brothers that runs through the gospel (cf. eg. Matthew 25); like Judah and Jeconiah has His own…
Gerard O’Collins points out that Arian and modern neo-Arian Christologies have significant implications for our understanding of the extent of God’s favor toward us. According to traditional Christologies, “God so valued us and our historical, space-time world that the Son of God entered it in person. By assuming a human…
Showing page 1920 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
