Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
We have moved from death to new life, from Lenten darkness to Easter light. And while Easter Sunday may have come and gone, it's effects are continually with us. This season has brought with it several new relationships, events, and signs of growth for Theopolis. We have been networking with…
In The People's Work , a social history of Christian Worship, Frank Senn summarizes the developments of the medieval period with regard to the Eucharist. He begins by challenging the assumption that medieval society was held together by “the church.” He notes that the church was often divided and conflicted,…
The structure of the Bible resembles something which was grown rather than built, composed rather than assembled. Its employment of “structure-as-sign” at every level from micro- to macrocosmic leads to the conclusion that a hermeneutic worthy of Scripture requires not only training in history, art and music but also the…
For some in first-century Israel, Easter was anything but good news. It was a terrifying surprise. For the rulers and powers that put Jesus to death, the idea that He had been raised by some power beyond their control was chilling. Early in Luke’s gospel, we're told that Herod thought…
Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. (John 21:11) This is one of those texts in the Bible that many people puzzle over. It is not a puzzle…
God is not mocked, Paul says. God is mocked, says Matthew. Who’s right? The two are in perfect harmony, but to see that, we need to run through the passage again. We’ll see that at every point, the mockery is being turned against the mockers. At every point, mockery is…
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Divine simplicity is often summarized in the axiom, "All that's in God is God." If this is taken at face value, though, it conflicts with Trinitarian orthodoxy. 1) By this axiom, the Persons are identical with the essence of God. 2) But the Persons have (or are) identifying particularities or…
Every commentator nowadays notes that the description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-31 is laid out in seven speeches of Yahweh that mimic the days of creation. It’s less obvious that the first subsection of Exodus 25-31 also follows the creation week, as does Moses’ erection of the tabernacle in…
Romans 14-15 overlaps in several ways with 1 Corinthians 8—10. Both deal with problems about food. In both, Paul talks about the “weak” and the “strong,” and encourages the strong to defer to the weak. The overlap isn’t total. Romans 14-15 isn’t dealing specifically with meat sacrificed to idols, but…
Skin is philosophically intriguing. It’s our largest and most sensitive organ. It’s a forming principle, working with the skeleton to give shape to the body. The beauty of a beautiful person is, in large measure, the radiance of skin. Skin is the boundary between our inside and outside, and like…
This little babe, so few days old, Is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at his presence quake. Though he himself for cold do shake, For in this weak unarmèd wise The gates of hell he will surprise. With tears he fights and wins the field; His naked…
The premise of Brent Strawn's argument in The Old Testament Is Dying is that the Old Testament is a language. That is, it "is, or at least can be, a way of constructing reality, a way of understanding the world, a way of perceiving all that is, including ourselves" (8).…
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