Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Optimism is “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.” 1 On the other hand, pessimism is “an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome.” We can see that optimism and…
If we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of…
“I chant slips and irreversible disasters, wiltings, failures, scars, the little disappointments and the large, blue streaks down a world that wishes it was only suncolors.” Paul J. Pastor from Kintsugi Song I recently lost something very valuable. Something I’d had for years and used every day. But, it wasn’t…
In his eponymous book, Jonah follows an exodus pattern. He travels through the waves and east of the city into the wilderness. On a first reading, it looks like another use of this common literary shape in the Old Testament: salvation through the waters of death and the wilderness of…
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” The unknowing master of ceremonies didn’t know how right he was. We see this play out in John’s apocalypse. The end is like the beginning,…
Read in isolation, The Test of Adultery (Num 5:11-31) presents the reader with a seemingly bizarre ritual, conjuring up ideas bordering on the Salem Witch Trials. Beyond this, pressing questions linger—such as, “Why is the woman in particular singled out, while no test is provided for the husband of a…
Showing page 23 of 309
Showing page 33 of 43
Trinity is in the middle of a shake-up, and shake-ups always open opportunities for people to step up into new roles. Pastors Sumpter and Appel will be stretched in all kinds of painful, healthy ways that would be impossible if I stuck around. Prune the tree, clear out the dead…
A homily for a late Octave of Easter celebration. Matthew 28:1: Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. Let us pray Heavenly Father, You raised Your Son Jesus on…
Explaining why baptism need not be repeated, John Knox ( Answers to Some Questions concerning Baptism, 1566 ) writes that “Baptism is the sign of our first entrance into the household of God our Father; by which is signified that we are received in league with him, that we are…
In his Prayer and the Priesthood of Christ , Graham Redding summarizes Calvin’s teaching on the temporary faith: “Calvin draws a distinction between the regenerating faith of the elect and the temporary faith of the reprobate. There are some among the reprobate, he says, who respond positively to the word…
Rudigert Safranski ( Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil ) makes it clear that Heidegger saw his Nazi affiliation as an application of his philosophical stance. For Heidegger, “Decision as a ‘pure’ act is the primary aspect, that jerk that man gives himself in order to jump out of his…
After he published The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies , Marcel Mauss wanted to continue his study of “total social phenomena” with a study of joking relationships. Marcel Founier ( Marcel Mauss: A Biography ) writes: “These were fascinating phenomena that had certain similarities to…
Showing page 747 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
