Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Since Theopolis began in 2013, we have been aiming for the fall of 2016 as the launch date for our year-long Fellows Program. As it turned out, we had only a handful of applicants, most withdrew for one reason or another (none for lack of interest), and we are left…
Charles Spurgeon once quipped, “If you give a man the gospel, wrap it in a sandwich. And if you give a man a sandwich, wrap it in the gospel.” With those words, the great Baptist preacher captured the essence of the church’s mission in the world. The church’s mission is…
This is a continuation of a previous essay by Lindsey Tollefson . 6. We own everything . Sometimes the biggest thing that is keeping us discontent is because we are not happy with what we have been given in material possessions. Especially in the United States it is so easy…
Proverbs 3:1-12 form a section marked off by the reference to the father-son relationship at the beginning and end (vv. 1, 12). Within this section, Solomon gives a series of six commands to his son (vv. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11), the first and the last (vv. 1, 11)…
A letter from Theopolis President Peter Leithart as our fiscal year draws to an end . Dear Friend of Theopolis: It was one of those moments when you realize that other people understand you better than you understand yourself. I was having lunch with a pastor friend at a BJ’s…
Learning to be content and completely satisfied in Christ is certainly a life-long process and a lesson that we are always learning, and always being tested on. As I am learning and wrestling against discontent, I am always looking for practical and tangible ways to set my course towards joy…
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Many Protestants still think of the Catholic church as a monolithic, uniform church. It’s been a long time since Catholics have thought of the church that way. Aloys Grillmeier sums up the results of Vatican II’s embrace of communio ecclesiology: “catholicity is understood as a union of opposites. The people…
Nicholas Rescher argues in Unknowability that there are certain things that logically cannot be known, such as “an idea that will never occur to any human being.” Prominent among unknowables are the unknowables of science. Given the way scientific research and discovery work, it is impossible for present science to…
Heaven, earth, sea: That three-decker universe is standard-issue in biblical cosmology (Exodus 20:11; Psalm 69:34; 96:11; 135:6; 146:6; Revelation 10:6). Occasionally a second heaven is added to the scheme (Nehemiah 9:6). But when the Lamb ascends to take the book, praise arises from four dimensions of creation: heaven, earth, under…
Thomas Guarino ( Vincent of Lerins ) outlines Newman’s arguments against the Vincentian canon (orthodoxy is what is taught always, everywhere, by everyone). In his Essay on Development , Newman provides historical examples “to demonstrate that the first rule is, at beast, a leaky and dubious criterion. As Newman boldly…
In his preface to Receptive Ecumenism , Paul Murray explains that the “driving assumption is that if all were to be asking and acting upon this question, even relatively independently of each other, then all would be moving, albeit somewhat unpredictably, and in such a fashion as might open up…
As Avery Dulles recounts it in The Catholicity of the Church , the reforms of Vatican II came partly from what Paul Murray calls “ receptive ecumenism ,” an ecumenism of attentive listening to the other. Dulles wasn’t exactly a receptive ecumenist himself. While acknowledging that “the Church can certainly…
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