Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Our creeds, taking cues from Matthew 28:18-20 and other biblical texts, speak of the order of the Trinity as “Father, Son, Spirit.” This order is evident in the order of redemption as well: the Father sends the Son, who ascends to heaven to receive and send the Spirit. Luke 1,…
The category of “relation” has long been central to Trinitarian theology, [1] but in recent theology it has become a transcendental, as many theologians have argued that relationality is the leading feature not only of divine life but of created life. [2] Human beings made in the image of the…
Listen to Trinity House President Peter Leithart discuss his article on the End of Protestantism with LCMS pastor Todd Wilken at Issues, Etc .
One of the keys to understanding the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13) is to understand the time frame. Jesus is speaking in pictures and symbols about some period of history, but which? What’s the beginning, and what’s the end of the parable? Is Jesus talking about what…
Shakespeare wrote two tetrologies of English history, patriotically celebrating the Tudor monarchy by recounting its chaotic prehistory. Read in chronological order, Shakespeare’s English histories trace the depressing collapse of medieval politics, from the ineffectual but dignified medieval kingdom of Richard II, through the usurpation of Henry Bolingbroke, later Henry IV,…
The Heart of Liturgy What we call sacrament, the food-aspect of worship, is essential here. Biblically, sanctuary worship, or worship in the heavenlies, is always a “marriage supper,” always sacramental. The Papal Church made the Eucharist into a private act largely separated from the community of the church. Protestant churches…
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Leviticus 1 tells us that Yahweh called Moses from the tent of meeting to deliver instructions about sacrifice. What is that "tent of meeting" ( 'ohel mo'ed )? Judging by the usage of Leviticus, it would seem to be the tabernacle or a portion of the tabernacle. Most of the…
The Ten Words include twelve negative commands. Most of the verbs that are negated are unique: 1) Thou shalt not have ( lo' yihyeh-leka ; literally, "there shalt not be to thee") other gods. 2) Thou shalt not prostrate ( lo'-tishtachweh ) to them (i.e., images). 3) Thou shalt not…
Thomas Aquinas summed up a long tradition when he said that philosophy is theology's ancilla , its maidservant. That's an apt description, and applies as well to natural science, social science, poetry, literary criticism, history, etc. etc. Philosophy has a special role only because her work often resembles theology's, and…
John Milbank currently has a series of essays on natural law running a Church Life Journal . It's a "revisionist" account of natural law. And one of the revisions is Milbank's post-Kantian conception of the relation of nature and culture, something he lays out in his essay, " Only Theology…
Steven Duby ( Divine Simplicity ) addresses the sort of argument I offered in yesterday's post . I quote a long paragraph (p. 148), with comments interspersed. "One might contend," Duby writes, "for a divine complexity that is necessary and irrevocable with no risk of divisibility. Such a hypothesis elicits…
This is a response to the notion of divine simplicity. It's not a refutation. It's an experiment designed to tease out the logic of the claim. Simplicity means that God is without parts. He has no physical parts, and He's not a composite of any metaphysical "parts" either. He's not…
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