Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
screen-shot-2020-03-05-at-9-05-54-am
Family

Childbearing as Liminal Space

Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (1 Timothy 2:15) Years ago, the wife of a prominent American theologian recognized that even in Christian circles mothers were under a kind of social pressure to justify the worthwhileness of their…

by Garrett SoucyMarch 24, 2020
pablo-merchan-montes-wyopqmtdd0w-unsplash
Motherhood

Parenting through Coronavirus

I caught my five year old washing his hands again. He had already washed them several times that hour, so I asked him if he was okay. He told me he didn’t want to get “the virus”. That was before I had told him anything about coronavirus, but we did…

by Lindsey TollefsonMarch 20, 2020
arturo-castaneyra-tpe60ik97qw-unsplash
Discipleship

Take a Walk

Very early in life, I developed the habit of walking and thinking and meditating. I came from a rather strict home, and the only way I could get out of the house at night was to walk the dog. So, I did. I would walk the dog for miles and…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 17, 2020
litany-1669-1
Coronavirus

Disease, Deprecations, and Deliverance in an Age of Safe Spaces | Reflections from a University President

From lightning and tempest; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death, Good Lord, deliver us. The Fourth Deprecation from Thomas Cranmer's 1544 Litany 1 A deprecation, such as that above, is a prayer to be spared from disaster, its Latin root deprecari meaning to…

by Alexander WhitakerMarch 16, 2020
lukasz-lada-q7z-aulhpaw-unsplash
Biblical Studies

The Son of Man in the Clouds | Part 2

In the previous essay in this series, we saw that Jesus’ words about coming on the clouds were spoken on more than one occasion, first to the disciples on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:30; Mark 11:36; Luke 21:27), then, a few days later, to the high priest and Jewish…

by Ralph Allan SmithMarch 10, 2020
screen-shot-2020-03-05-at-9-05-54-am
Epistemology

Voice and God’s Relational Biology

The following is excerpted from an essay first published at Church Life Journal . We are grateful to the editors for permission to repost here. The word “science” at its root means “to know” and the word “theology” at its root means “to think about God.” Can we know anything…

by Kristin M. Collier MDMarch 5, 2020

Showing page 69 of 309

See all

Showing page 39 of 43

See all

Old Men

A thought on the coverage of the Pope’s funeral: When was the last time you saw so many old men on TV?

April 8, 2005
Literature

Responsibility and Meaning

At one point in Atonement, Briony sends a slightly fictionalized version of part of her story to a magazine. She writes in the style of Virginia Woolf, focusing on light plays on the surfaces of stone and water. The story is rejected, and in explaining the rejection the editor says…

April 8, 2005
Literature

Why We Care

With Ian McEwan’s recent Saturday getting strong reviews everywhere, I decided I needed to read the only McEwan novel that I possess, the 2001 Atonement . Atonement focuses on the story of the Tallis family. On a sultry day in Surrey in the 1930s, through a series of petty conflicts…

April 8, 2005

On the Indwelling Christ

From Luther’s Freedom of a Christian : “as our heavenly Father has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbor through our body and its works, and each one should become as it were a Christ to the other that we may be…

April 6, 2005

Structure of Matthew

The allusions to Exodus early in Matthew fit into a larger theological and literary thrust of the first gospel. Commentators have often noted that the gospel is organized around five large discourses, some of which are virtually monologues: The sermon on the Mount (chs. 5-7); Jesus?Emission instructions to His disciples…

April 6, 2005
Literature

Eliot and Dante

A discarded fragment from a paper: Virtually any passage of Eliot, even the briefest, would serve for hours of source-checking. Let me offer a brief interpretation of the closing lines of Part I of The Waste Land. The whole section is entitled ‘The Burial of the Dead.’ The final section,…

April 6, 2005

Showing page 1992 of 2212

Browse by Category

In Medias Res

Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.

Donate

Theopolis is nearly 100% donor-supported. Consider joining us on our mission.