Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The story of Judges 19 and the subsequent chapters are some of the most shocking and appalling accounts in all of Scripture. The callousness of the old host and the Levite, and the monstrous brutality of the men of Gibeah, leaves us feebly scrabbling for words by which to surmount…
David has become king. He has conquered the capital city of Jerusalem. He has brought the ark of Yahweh into the city and placed it in a tent. He has stationed Levites at the tent to offer sacrifices of praise. An anomaly hits him: He has a cedar-paneled palace, and…
In Part 2 of this series we traced what we have of the development of the epiclesis in the liturgy of the Church. In this third and final part we’ll look at the theological implications of this and how we may apply what we’ve learned. As we saw in Part…
In a 2014 piece published in First Things , I offered a "wish list" for Protestant churches, a checklist for a future catholic Protestantism. The wish list doesn't cover everything. It doesn't mention those things that Protestants, especially Evangelicals, already do, often exceedingly well, things like missions and evangelism and…
In the first part of this series we examined the meaning of “blessing” in Scripture and its parallels in Jewish liturgical tradition, but did not find anything that we could properly call an epiclesis (an invocation of the Holy Spirit). We did find examples of invocation of Jesus to “come”…
When the Aaronic priests were ordained, the blood of the ram of "filling” was placed on the lobe of the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe (Lev. 8:22-24). Similarly, the cleansing rite for a leper included smearing the right ear lobe, thumb, and big toe with…
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Sylvie Vanhoozer’s Art of Living In Season is a beautiful book. Vanhoozer’s meditations on the art of living are organized by the church calendar, and so guide the reader to live in ways appropriate to each season of the year – the “art of living in season” of her title.…
The true God, the living God, is a hospitable God. He’s eternally hospitable. The life of God is infinitely faithful, infinitely joyful welcome. God is hospitality. God is hospitable because He’s Triune. As we confess every Sunday, we believe in one God who exists in three Persons. The Son isn’t…
Let’s stipulate some translations. The Hebrew sheretz = “swarmer”; remesh = “creeper”; chayyah = “beast.” In the original creation, swarmers are found only in the water (Gen 1:20-21), while creepers are on land (1:24-26). Only after the flood do swarmers swarm on earth (Gen 7:21 is the turning point). There…
We're pleased to announce that Jackson Waters has been added to the Theopolis team as interim Executive Editor of the Theopolis blog. Jack is currently a student at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., where he also serves as Youth Director at Christ the King Anglican Church (ACNA). A graduate…
Wisdom from my old friend and colleague, Rev. Rich Bledsoe, on conversion . People "meet" Jim Jordan, and have the bracing thrill of escaping the flatness of just living and being in the 21st century. They might take off to the thrilling different world of Eastern Orthodoxy. They experience the…
First we slaughtered unborn babies in their mothers' wombs. Then we started killing babies born from "botched" abortions. Or born babies that didn't look quite perfect. Now we're butchering the bodies of children in an insane attempt to turn them into their opposites. And the UN is undermining age of…
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