Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Continuing through The Worship of the English Puritans by Horton Davies: The author gives some of his own appraisals rather than immediately quoting Durel, even though that is how he began his chapter. In Davies’ opinion, while the Puritans would invoke their own interpretation of Scripture in order to condemn,…
What follows are from a couple of posts on my blog. I hoped to do a series. If I do follow up, I will probably want to do it here on the BH blog rather than my own. Feedback welcome: It is no secret that some have been scathingly critical…
Jeremy Sexton wrote this in an earlier line of discussion: “Along those lines, I think what we most often miss in our theology of baptism (though Calvin didn’t miss this) is that Christian baptism — if it “is” anything that came before — is Jesus’ water baptism. In our baptism,…
Jeff pointed out that baptism is not Christian circumcision . Looking at the comments, I think it might be helpful to point out that Israel was not the Church . In the new creation, the idea of an “unbaptized Christian” is either very temporary or an anomaly. Those who came…
Once a upon a time, one Sunday morning, a pastor mounted his pulpit for the sermon and said the following: A troubled young man walked into a downtown high-rise building. As he approached the directory on the wall, he took out a small booklet and looked back and forth from…
If you are, say, leading a Bible study in Genesis, you might notice that right after the covenant is renewed and circumcision is established (ch 17) that we see Abraham eating and drinking with God (ch 18). After that meal, God makes a point of saying the he should share…
Showing page 216 of 309
Showing page 32 of 43
A t the New Yorker , Blythe Roberson is having fun imagining futuristic updates of Jane Austen's novels. Real-life efforts to update Austen aren't nearly as much fun. Paula Hollingsworth ends her The Spirituality of Jane Austen by summarizing the plots of the novels in the “Jane Austen Project,” a…
P aul writes letters. Letter-writing—or mail electronically composed and delivered—has become so commonplace that we don't immediately grasp the significance of Paul's activity. Noting the Old Testament background will shake us from our privatized assumptions about epistle-writing. There are two main words for “letter” in the Old Testament. The first,…
F ew studies of the Reformation, writes Alexandra Walsham ( The Reformation of the Landscape ), “have considered how it affected attitudes and practices associated with the world of trees, woods, springs, rocky outcrops, caves, mountain peaks, and other striking topographical features” of Britain. Studies of early modern England “have…
R itualism was a major issue in mid-nineteenth-century Anglicanism. Though inspired by the Tractarians, the ritualists went much further in elaborating the Anglican liturgy. As Peter Marsh puts it ( Victorian Church in Decline ), “For over thirty years the High Church clergy, however moderate, had been raising the standards…
J ohn Calvin isn't the first theologian who comes to mind when thinking about either liturgy or art, much less the combination of the two. W. David O. Taylor thinks that's unfortunate, and his recent Theater of God's Glory is an effort to rehabilitate Calvin as a resource for liturgical…
Boyd Hilton writes (in Age of Atonement ) about Evangelical “aetiology of business immorality” that emerges from 19th-century sermons, novels, and pamphlets: Once “fallen,” commercial man becomes a prey to materialism. His business absorbs too much of his life, and colours all his thoughts and actions, leaving no time for…
Showing page 155 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
