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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Democracy

The Babylonian Unity of the Church

There are many legitimate reasons to lament the divided state of the church. Fleshly pride, theological hubris, sectarian rivalries are each in their own ways modern versions of the Galatian heresy, refusing table fellowship with brothers and sisters for whom Christ died. And denominations have frequently played the same role…

by Toby SumpterJune 23, 2015
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Theopolis News

Bogumil Jarmulak

Though Bogumil Jarmulak was not able to deliver his lectures on Jurgen Moltmann due to flight delays, he preached at Trinity Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning, June 14. He encouraged the church in how to deal with misery in this life, and pointed them to their only hope in life…

by Brian MoatsJune 18, 2015
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History

Christians, Liturgy, and the Past, 2

Connecting with the past within the present is a complicated endeavor. One of the most immediate challenges facing us is that of ensuring that, as Christians, our use of the past is undertaken in service of present faithfulness. The past is not a realm to which we retreat, but a…

by Alastair RobertsJune 18, 2015
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Theopolis News

Letter From Peter Leithart

Dear friend of Theopolis, Before he attended the Theopolis course on Holistic Mission during Easter term, 2014, Jonathan Sedlak lived with his family in the quiet, comfortable Milwau­kee suburb of Slinger, Wisconsin. An intensive week in Birmingham changed all that. Listening to missionary Wes Baker and hashing over readings and…

by TheopolisJune 16, 2015
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Architecture

The Crystalline Vision: Bauhaus and the Bible

“What is in the nature of these materials?” The Bauhaus, founded in Germany in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius, had a profound influence in every area of design, from graphics and typography to clothing, furniture and architecture. The institution was not so much a style as a method, its philosophy…

by Mike BullJune 11, 2015
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Books

The American Way of Being Church

​Russell Richey's ​Denominationalism collects some of the most important essays on its titled topic. The authors are a who's-who of 20th century American religious history: Winthrop Hudson, Timothy L. Smith, Sidney Mead, Richey himself, H. Richard Niebuhr and Martin Marty. Some are broad synthetic studies; others are more granular studies…

by Peter LeithartJune 10, 2015

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Hebrews

Text Painting

Biblical writers often use "text painting": the form of the text portrays the topic of the text. The first half of the flood narrative describes the rising waters, steadily raising the ark toward heaven. The second half describes the descending waters. At the center: "Yahweh remembered Noah" (Genesis 8:1). Rise,…

September 30, 2024
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CreationTrinity

Creator and Critics

A response to Jordan Ballor’s review of my Creator , which was published at Acton.org on August 12. 1. Ballor says that, to avoid pantheism or panentheism, God’s identity as creator must be “relative, secondary, or conditional.” He rightly says that I argue the opposite: “God is Creator” is the…

September 4, 2024
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Jonathan EdwardsPhilosophy

Substance or Tune?

Jonathan Edwards didn’t think the world is a machine. At the heart of the mechanistic interpretation of Newtonian physics, he discerned, was the notion that “bodies” are (in Robert Jenson’s words) “the sort of thing that either can or cannot act ‘properly by themselves.’” The mechanistic world picture involved an…

July 22, 2024
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ActsIsaiah

Paul's Idol Polemics

Joshua Jipp argues that Paul's Areopagus address contains both critique and propaganda, critique of Athenian superstition, lust for novelty, and idolatry, and propaganda in favor of Christian faith as a more consistent fulfillment of the aspirations of Hellenistic philosophical theology. Much of the critique, Jipp shows, is drawn from Isaiah's…

June 26, 2024
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Poetry

Anahorish

Cobbling together some notes for a lecture series, I was reminded of Seamus Heaney's little poem, " Anahorish ." The Gaelic name means “place of clear water,” as the first line indicates, and the etymology suggests a place of purity and innocence. Anahorish was near Heaney’s childhood home in County…

June 4, 2024
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American Politics

Nomos and Narrative

In an article in the Harvard Law Review from the early 1980s, Robert cover explores the relation of legal structure and narrative. His analysis has wide-ranging legal, political, and even theological import. Cover states the thesis early: We live in “normative universes,” social worlds that distinguish between right and wrong,…

May 28, 2024

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