Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
screen-shot-2021-06-03-at-8-49-15-am
Ezra

Ezra: The Aaronic Rest-Giver

If you’re a preacher looking for good commentaries on Ezra, you’ll struggle. Certainly to find ones that wrestle in good detail with the text. And certainly ones that don’t cost you an arm and a leg. There’s a good bit more for Nehemiah, which is odd, as the two are…

by Rhys LavertyJune 8, 2021
christian-lue-k1e6994p3t8-unsplash
1 John

1 John in Community

Quick thought experiment: try to pretend you’ve never read 1 John before. Read 1:1-6. Go ahead; I’ll wait. Now, on to v. 7: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with ______….” What word would you expect in that blank, based…

by Tim NicholsJune 1, 2021
noahs-ark-genesis
Hermeneutics

Spending Time with Noah: Reflections on Prepositions in the Flood Narrative

In my work as a Bible translator, I was recently checking our translation team’s draft of Genesis 8:8, which says of Noah (translating the Hebrew quite literally): And he sent out the dove from with him to see: had the waters lessened from upon the face of the ground? Part…

by Josh JensenMay 25, 2021
86758
Philosophy

Steven Weinberg Destroyed My Faith

Just in case a reader may not know Weinberg, he is a theoretical physicist and the winner of the Nobel prize in physics in 1979, as well as countless other prizes for his research. He is also a prolific, lucid, and captivating writer. If you want to read something on…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 18, 2021
screen-shot-2020-09-17-at-9-11-45-am
Colossians

Reconciliation in Colossians 1:20

Colossians 1:15-20 is a famous passage in Paul’s epistles because it is a succinct and powerful poem. It appears even to have been a hymn. Given the uniquely Pauline language — “reconciliation” is a term used only by Paul — it should not seem odd to attribute the poem/hymn to…

by Ralph Allan SmithMay 11, 2021
stalker_still
Movies

Terror of Knowing Myself

Stalker (1979) is a film by Andrei Tarkovsky based on Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers. It shows a day from the life of a stalker, a man who enters the so-called "Zone", an Alien landing site, where he leads people to a room that grants people’s innermost desires, which…

by Bogumil JarmulakMay 4, 2021

Showing page 55 of 309

See all

Showing page 35 of 43

See all
Politics

Jus in Bello?

Jim Rogers of Texas A&M takes some issue with my discussion of the justice of NATO bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  I’ll briefly take up Jim’s questions about human shields in another post.  Here’s Jim’s response: [1][a] Yes, in general, but your post doesn’t really deal with the problem of…

November 6, 2009

Changeable nature

Athanasius points to the biblical teaching of creation from nothing to prove that creation is in its nature changeable.  It’s not simply that something comes from nothing is fragile, unstable, dependent; it also seems that creatures have a changeable nature because their origin is change: Scripture “teaches that [the Son]…

November 5, 2009

Lex credendi

Athanasius argues that “Father” is preferable to the Arian “Unoriginate” as a name for the First Person.  It is more Scriptural, and it also names the First Person by reference to God the Son rather than by reference to the creation. Plus, “Father” is the liturgical name for the First…

November 5, 2009
Economics

Dead Aid

Over the past sixty years, writes Dambisa Moyo ( Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa ), Africa has received over $1 trillion in aid.  Study after study concludes that it has had minimal, or even negative effects on Africa’s economies:…

November 5, 2009
Politics

Jus in bello?

Hilary Clinton had some stiff opposition last week in Pakistan.  Everywhere she went in her dazzling blue pants suit, Pakistanis raged about US policy in Afghanistan and along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.  One woman pointedly asked, Do the US drone bombings that kill Pakistani civilians count as terrorism?  Clinton of course…

November 5, 2009

Purity again

Mike Bull responds to my comments on Athanasius’ discussion of purity and bodily secretions: “I agree with Luther, but isn’t the point more that what comes out is ‘worthless”? Moving beyond the Old Testament pedagogical purpose of ceremonial uncleanness, affirming the goodness of bodies does not necessarily include any goodness…

November 4, 2009

Showing page 1329 of 2212

Browse by Category

In Medias Res

Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.

Donate

Theopolis is nearly 100% donor-supported. Consider joining us on our mission.