Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Reformers did not start out with a plan to found separated churches. Their goal was to reform the entire Latin church. In this they failed. The paradox is sharp, and we need to feel its point and its edge if we Protestants are to reckon honestly with our history…
Conversion is a turning from sin to Christ. Now, let's think about that. Does conversion happen only once in a lifetime, or does it happen many times? That is the question, I believe, that needs answering. From my experience, and from my understanding of the Bible and of Christianity, there…
Israel was supposed to be a priest to the nations (Ex. 19:6). Her water would cause their trees to grow. This was signified to all men when Israel came out of Egypt, for "then they came to Elim, where they were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and…
Rousing Soviet songs surround us as we pass through a gloomy gauntlet of titanic statues on our way to Kyiv’s Museum of the Great Patriotic War. My friends, a Polish and a Ukrainian pastor, remember the songs, which played incessantly on the radio during their childhood. The sculpture complex depicts…
This is the second installment of a two-part article. Click HERE to read Part I. The fourth perspective on ceremony is that of the action of the Lord's Supper. As we noted before, the inauguration of the Lord's Supper preceded its interpretation. Jesus did not at that point give an…
The best courses are those that make you see the Bible, the church, or the world differently. The recent Theopolis Architecture Course with Daniel Lee did exactly that. Architect Daniel Lee began the week with architectural theory, continued through the week taking students through a history of architectural practice, and…
Showing page 114 of 309
Showing page 35 of 43
When Hebrews 13:15 exhorts believers to offer a continuous sacrifice of praise to God, we naturally think of a continuous offering of verbal or sung praise. That is how the verse ends: “the fruit of lips that confess His name.” The sacrifice of praise is verbal, but I suspect that…
Many OT scholars emphasize the commonalities between Ancient Near Eastern and biblical cosmologies. While recognizing a similarity, Guthrie rightly points to the radical difference in this comment on Psalm 82 and Genesis 1 ( Theology as thanksgiving: From Israel’s Psalms to the church’s Eucharist , p. 36): These passages “are…
Harvey Guthrie’s Theology as thanksgiving: From Israel’s Psalms to the church’s Eucharist has multiple problems, but I think he gets the meaning of zedek (“righteous”) just right (p. 9): “the original meaning of zedek may have been been connected with the action of a protector god toward a devotee who…
In his Reciprocity and Ritual: Homer and Tragedy in the Developing City-State (Clarendon Paperbacks) , Richard Seaford traces a shift from Homeric interpersonal reciprocity to the impersonal cult of the Greek polis . Seaford believes this transition in the sources of power and legitimacy are reflected in the development of…
A NYTBR review of White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf highlights the “Pharisaical” motives behind the push for white bread: “At the turn of the 20th century, urbanization outpaced civic infrastructure. Most bread was baked at home, but in dank city bakeries, bakers worked around the clock…
Several friends have objected to this statement of mine from a recent post on natures and substances: “‘The finite cannot contain the infinite’ was an axiom of Greek philosophy. But the incarnation says the opposite.” My friends have said (nicely) that this statement was at least unguarded and at worst…
Showing page 889 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
