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Writing

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

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C. S. Lewis

On Reading Fairy Tales

One of the main characters of That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis is Mark Studdock, who was a sociologist but his true passion was being a part of the so called “inner circle.” He wanted to belong to the elite that would bestow glory and power. On the other…

by Bogumil JarmulakMay 26, 2015
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Acts

By the Spirit

The first Pentecost meant many things, fulfilling many types, shadows, and prophecies from the Old Testament. Pentecost marked the beginning of a new creation, and a new humanity. Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters of the original formless and void creation to shape and fill it, so the…

by Peter LeithartMay 21, 2015
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Interview

Student Profile - Clint Hail

Clint Hail has had an exciting, varied life. A West Point graduate and a former infantry officer, he now serves as Community Transformation Director in Costa Rica for e3 Partners Ministries. Clint has also attended two Theopolis Institute courses. Clint recently told Theopolis about his experiences in the military, his…

by TheopolisMay 20, 2015
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Homosexuality

Music in Wartime

Before the summer is out, the US Supreme Court will hand down a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges , the same-sex marriage case. Every other week, ISIS releases a new video of masked fighters beheading Christians, and the rest of the Middle East is in chaos. Boko Haram terrorizes parts…

by Peter LeithartMay 19, 2015
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Theopolis News

New Theopolis Board Members

The Theopolis Institute Board added three new Board members at its semi-annual Board meeting on May 16: Dr. Roy Atwood, Pastor Uri Brito, and Rod Olps, Jr. Formerly President of New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho, Atwood was recently appointed Abraham Kuyper Distinguished Professor of Classics at Morthland College…

by TheopolisMay 18, 2015
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Galatians

Galatian Temptations

The kingdom of God has come upon us, Jesus said. The justice of God is revealed in the gospel, Paul said. Whoever is in Christ, there is new creation. Isaiah's visions of lions and lambs and a peaceable kingdom are visions about the effect of the Messiah's first advent. If…

by Peter LeithartMay 14, 2015

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Idolatry After Idols

During the Second Temple period, the Talmud says, "the temptation for idolatry was slaughtered" (quoted in Haberthal and Margalit, Idolatry , 2). Then the fight returned, with Maimonides. Now, though, idolatry was a contrast-concept to a new conception of God. Halberthal and Margalit summarize: "The central effort of philosophical religion…

May 9, 2018
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Exodus

No Graven Images

The First of the Ten Words speaks to the question of whom we worship: We are to have no other gods before the face of Yahweh. The Second Word had to do with how we worship: We are to approach God as He commands us to approach Him. The Second…

May 9, 2018

Text Patterns in Exodus 20

There are Ten Words, but they are grouped in several different ways. The first two commandments stand out from the rest. Only in the first three commandments does the Lord speak in the first person (FW Farrar): “I am Yahweh your God . . . thou shalt have no other…

May 8, 2018

Patterned by Idols

A little over a year ago, I wrote the following in a post reflecting on the Hebrew term tabnit, used in Exodus and Chronicles to describe the heavenly "pattern" of the sanctuary: "Deuteronomy 4:16-18 uses the word five times, not of a 'model' or 'plan' but of likenesses made according…

May 7, 2018

Rosenzweig on Anthropomorphism

Franz Rosenzweig didn't buy Maimonides philosophical critique of the Bible's anthropomorphism. In 1928, he wrote a short essay on the topic and, in the summary of Leora Batnitzky ( Idolatry and Representation ) he "argues that the tendency to rationalize away biblical anthropomorphisms . . . is both dishonest and…

May 4, 2018

Secularizing Sacrifice

In Theology and the First Theory of Sacrifice , Ivan Strenski recounts an epochal shift in the study of religion, and of sacrifice in particular, that took place in the France of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the time, the "lions" of the field of religion were…

May 4, 2018

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