Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
We lost Crimea. That is very clear. Putin proved he was not lying when he said he would place women and children ahead of his soldiers to storm Ukrainian military bases. Russian soldiers did exactly that with women (some who volunteered and some who were forced). Russia now occupies all…
Sound is an indicator of life and energy. “Sound signals the present use of power, since sound must be in active production to exist at all.” Things don’t have to be alive to make themselves visible, and “a primitive hunter can see, feel, smell, and taste an elephant when the…
In the most famous section of his best-known novel, Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov brings forward his case against God. He opens with a horrific litany of outrages against children. Turkish soldiers make a baby laugh and then shoot a pistol into his face. A little girl is beaten, thrashed, kicked by…
At the heart of Esther Lightcap Meek's splendid Little Manual for Knowing is a concept she picked up from Michael Polanyi, "subsidiary-focal integration." The concept begins from the insight that all our knowing, all our experience, is double. We focus on something, but we are capable of "indwelling" that focal…
Jesus promises the overcomers of Pergamum "hidden manna" and a "white stone." The hidden manna is often linked with the manna stashed away in the ark of the covenant. The white stone has proved more elusive. Exodus tells us that manna was white (Exodus 16:31) and like bdellium (Numbers 11:7),…
Leviticus 23 begins with a reference to “Yahweh’s appointed times” ( mo’ade-YHWH ). Mo’ed is the common term for the feasts of Israel. A few dimensions to this term. First, it means “appointed time” or “designated time.” It is a time set by Yahweh. Yahweh has claimed certain times as…
Showing page 177 of 309
Showing page 35 of 43
Religions, Milbank ( Beyond Secular Order ) argues, do not necessary aim for the ultimate. “Many human religions relate themselves, both theoretically and practically, to a cosmic level which they talce to be less than ultimate - often marked by a mythically narrated violent ‘brealc’ which leaves a reserved space…
Phillip J. Long’s study of Jesus the Bridegroom traces the origins of Jesus’ imagery of the eschatological wedding banquet. Isaiah 25 is typically identified as the background, but Long demonstrates that this passage is part of a rich tapestry of expectation. He draws from historical accounts to describe the hints…
Rosenstock-Huessy offers a test for distinguishing between humanism and faith ( Die Sprache des Menschengeschlects ): Whenever “man” is used in the singular without reference to God, the speaker or writer is giving voice to humanism. The easy liberalism that says “Man creates God is false” not only because man…
Isaiah pronounces a woe against those who “add house to house and join field to field, until there is no room” (5:8). He warns that the houses of the land-greedy elites will be left desolate (v. 6). We can imagine that wealthy landowners took a page from Ahab, who manipulated…
We don’t have to reach back to antiquity to find apologists for bestiality. Midas Dekkers begins his Dearest Pet with some musings that blur the difference between human sex and bestiality: “Back at the boys’ school girls seemed like beings from another planet, so different were they in our eyes.…
Leviticus is full of numerical designs, often using repeated leitworten to highlight themes in a particular section. Chapter 3, for instance, uses the word “fat” ( chalev ) twelve times, and the divine speech that lays out the torot for the various offerings (6:1-7:38) uses the word blood ( dam…
Showing page 699 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
