Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Reflecting on the centennial of the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, Theopolis contributor Tim Nichols asked Dr. Leithart and me what the five fundamentals of the faith were today . His thoughts went something like this: Back in the early 20th century, in response to a ruinous drift away from the historic Christian…
1. Introduction In this article, I delve into some parallels found in the scholarly analysis of two important literary works: the Testimonium Flavianum by Josephus ( Antiquities 18.63–64) and the Olivet Discourse in the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 24–25). These texts have been at the center of countless academic discussions,…
Over the last twenty years, our American culture has created a culture of obsession over trauma. This could be a result of publications such as The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, which explores the lasting effect on health that traumatic experiences can have. Or it could…
The Beloved celebrates the beauty of his Shulamite’s lips, describing them as “a thread of crimson” upon a mouth that is altogether lovely (Song 4:3). It were easy perhaps to pass by this all too quickly, passing it off, if we attend to it at all, as a kind of…
This article originally appeared at American Reformer on October 29, 2025. Reproduced with permission. Why the West Was Never Meant to Be Governed by Law Alone Back in the early nineties, I was in the candidate process for Undergraduate Pilot Training with the Texas Air National Guard, hoping to fly…
In his book From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution , Peter Leithart shows that David, the author of so many Psalms and the musician who trained choirs, instituted a musical and liturgical revolution of how the people of Israel worshipped. The liturgical revolution in turn was designed to…
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Jesus chooses a couple of sets of brothers to be among the Twelve: Andrew and Peter, James and John. Plus, there’s Thomas the Twin. Why did Jesus do this? Possibly, because the Old Testament so often shows us brothers in conflict, especially older brothers hating and abusing younger brothers, while…
In his 1676 parody, La Terre australe connue , Gabriel de Foigny describes the rationality and simplification of the Austral language, which works somewhat like chemical formula. All words are monosyllabic, and each letter is associated with either a substance (the vowels, which match the four classical elements, plus salt!)…
Linguistic values arise from differences between linguistic items in a system, Saussure argues. But on what basis do we conclude that those differences are differences between items at one moment? What can’t value and meaning arise in the difference between a word’s value now and a word’s value a century…
Saussure also suggests that phonetic changes sometimes have the effect of obliterating the distinct parts of composite words. Latin’s amicus (“friend”) was clearly negated by inimicus (“enemy”), but the French ami and ennemi are no longer so obviously related by derivation. Again, breaking of these historical links between words has…
Saussure notes that phonetic changes in a language can have wider consequences on a language. One of these effects is “to break the grammatical link connecting two or more words.” Where linguistic signs once wore their derivation on their sound, a phonetic change breaks the link. In Latin, house-house is…
Tom Perrotta creates a background buzz of sexuality in his 1998 novel Election . It’s appropriate to the story’s setting - an election for Winwood High’s student body president. What’s remarkable is how deftly he achieves this - mostly by gesturing and leaving a great deal unstated. We don’t know…
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