Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Paul writes to Jews, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:22b) The English translation “rob temples” makes readers think of pagan temples. There was only one Temple for Israel, so robbing more than one would indicate other temples are in view. And if the Jews wanted to…
Two offerings Humanity’s first vocation involves guarding and serving the trees that emerge from the ground (Genesis 2:15). God provides these trees to humanity for food. A serpent appears and tempts the couple to eat from a special forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Humanity…
At the outset of the Torah (as Christians understand it), a triune God creates the heavens and earth over the course of a seven-day week. Why? What’s the connection between the three and the seven? Could a triune God have created the world over any period of time he chose?…
How relevant to the modern reader are the flying axe head of Deuteronomy 19:5 and the roof parapet of Deuteronomy 22:8? Indeed, how relevant were they to the daily lives of Israelites thirty-five hundred years ago? Suppose that accidental falls from rooftops were exceedingly uncommon in ancient Israel, or that…
1 For most of my life, the standing of the American church as a source of national social and political order was measured by reports from the front of the so-called “culture wars.” 2 Memory brings to mind battles over feminism and the ERA, so-called gay rights, the breakdown of…
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel…’ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the…
Showing page 17 of 309
Showing page 35 of 43
Robin Lane Fox ( Pagans and Christians ) summarizes Constantine’s telling of the story of Daniel: In the court of Cambyses, Daniel “worked his miracles and prayed intently three times a day. The Magi became jealous of this new superior, and so he cast him to lions in the royal…
That’s how Stroumsa describes early Christianity, because of its preference for the small, portable codex over the traditional, sacred but quite cumbersome scroll. The codex had practical advantages, but Stroumsa thinks that something else was at work: “In going against all religious and cultural norms, the Christians manifestly knew that…
Guy Stroumsa’s book, The End of Sacrifice (just released from the University of Chicago) is small in size but raises huge questions. Based on lectures delivered at the College de France, Stroumsa’s book examines religious, religio-political and religio-anthropological shifts during the first centuries after Christ. He sees several new emphases…
Eusebius ( Gospel Preparation , 4.17) charges that human sacrifice was regularly practiced by ancient peoples: “And whether it is Phylarchus, or any one else, who records that all the Greeks, before going out to their wars, offer a human sacrifice, do not thou hesitate to take him also as…
Aristotle defined magnanimity or “great-mindedness” as a proper estimate of one’s merits: “The Great-minded man is then, as far as greatness is concerned, at the summit, but in respect of propriety he is in the mean, because he estimates himself at his real value (the other characters respectively are in…
In his Oration to the Saints , Constantine repeats the patristic commonplace that Greek philosophy owed a debt to Moses: “Moses excelled his predecessors in wisdom to such a degree that even those who were praised by the nations as wise men and philosophers came to emulate his wisdom. For…
Showing page 1401 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
