Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Can it be that it has been two whole years since I contributed a Theopolis Post! I had been pursuing the topic of integration: “Seeking Integration in a Fragmented World.” I had defined “integration,” simply, as creative putting together. I had posed that seeking it calls for a fundamentally integrative…
What is known as the miracle of the “Feeding of the Five Thousand” occurs in Mark’s Gospel in chapter 6. As with other gospel writers, Mark has a few different points to make as he moves through this story (included in all four gospel accounts) and its surrounding material. Three…
To begin with the source of this narrative: Since no human being was present to observe these events, we must assume that this narrative was revealed directly by God to a human author. There are three ways this might have happened. First, we might read, "God said to Abraham (or…
The serious Bible student cannot help but be struck by the deviousness of Jacob in Genesis 27. If one already expected some underhanded dealings from this twin-born-second whose name means “supplanter” and whose bargaining with his brother for the birthright in Genesis 25 seemed incredibly weighted in his own favor,…
From Barna stats to mainstream headlines, it seems as though the discordant nature of this last year has taken such a toll on churches in the United States that, for many, the injuries have been fatal. It has become a regular occurrence to hear about a congregation that continues to…
In The Bad News Bears (1976), a city councilman hires a washed-up minor league baseball player with a drinking problem to coach a little league team of leftover misfits. Underdog sports movies are usually full of sentimentalism and dramatic victories, but this film is a commentary on the failing dream…
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Duncan Derrett again: Jesus condemns the Pharisees and scribes as “blind men,” and their blindness is a myopia that makes it impossible for them to distinguish between gnats and camels. Both are prohibited foods, but “their throats are wide, their bellies capacious for the unclean.” For all their their obsession…
Duncan Derrett points to the OT background to Jesus’ saying about unclean vessels. According to the law, a vessel was rendered unclean in the interior when an animal dropped into the vessel. Some vessels could be scrubbed clean, others had to be broken (Leviticus 11). A vessel became clean when…
For a number of years, I’ve been using the analogy of marriage to explain apostasy. Turns out I wasn’t the first. Jeremiah does too. Jeremiah uses some variation of the root shub (“turn, return, turn away”) nearly 50 times in his prophecy. One of the specific words is meshubah, translated…
Along with a friend, my son, Jordan, has started an online comic strip. Check it out here every Tuesday and Thursday: http://www.goodtimescomic.blogspot.com/
PROVERBS 26:17 Verse 17 returns to the use of dog imagery. We recall that dogs are scavengers in the Bible, feeding on death. Dogs eat flesh and lap up blood. They are greedy, constantly hungry for more (Isaiah 56:11). They tear things to pieces (Matthew 7:6). In short, they are…
Mike Bull from Australia sends along some comments on my earlier posts about “blood and soil.” The rest of this post is from Mike: “Jesus doesn’t just overcome and send the powers packing. But also, he doesn’t just pacify and reconcile them. He tears them in two, like two goats.…
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