Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
"The faithful use of sacraments, and indeed a fully sacramental view of creation, is vital to the life of the Church. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are rites that directly shape the community and the Body, because they were given by God for that express purpose. A deficient practice of…
Weightlessness is fun. At the beginning of Gravity (2013) , we can see one astronaut dancing the Macarena and another one playing with his jetpack. They like it out there in the space. Apart from zero-gravity they can enjoy beautiful views, and even the silence is likable, although Matt Kowalski…
I recently went to a lunch that is more or less quarterly. About a dozen of us go. It is a lunch held in honor of a retired professor of religion and philosophy. I have been one of his acquaintances for more than 40 years. In his tenure as professor,…
Why Theopolis? Don't we already have seminaries and Bible colleges and other institutions for theological education? Why do we need another one? I get this question now and again. I ask myself this question even more often. What follows is a partial answer. Back in the 1990s, seminaries seemed to…
I think the logic of the Lutheran Reformation can be summarized in one sentence, attributed to Luther himself: "God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does." The first half of that statement is justification by faith . God doesn't need our works to satisfy his justice or…
If you are looking to start a fight with Christians, there is hardly a better subject to do so than the arts. Music, movies, paintings, and literature have provided no small battlegrounds for Christians to war. We are emotionally invested in the arts. A song, a book, or a film…
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Oswald Bayer has a typically provocative essay in the Forde Festschrift , in which he explores the cosmic dimensions of justification by faith. A few highlights: 1) He points out that Luther’s explanation of the First Article of the creed already employs the language of justification: The Father provides for…
“The assertion of ‘justification by faith’ in the sixteenth-century Reformation can be understood only if it is clearly seen as a complete break with ‘justification by grace.’” So says Gerhard Forde. Marc Kolden begins a brief essay in By Faith Alone , a Festschrift for Forde, with this quotation. He…
Some of the highlights of Marjorie Garber’s discussion of Coriolanus . 1) With many critics, she emphasizes the emotional immaturity of the title hero: “Volumnia has refused to ever treat her son like a child, sending him out to war at an early age, and she emphasizes her own values…
And said ?Eliyyahu the Settler from the Settlers of Gil?ad to Achav, ?Life of Yahweh, Elohim of Yisrael Which I stand before Him If (surely not) there will be these years dew or rain Except to my mouth, my word.?E And it was the word of Yahweh to him, saying,…
Some notes on the death and resurrection of the widow’s son in 1 Kings 17. 1) This is not the first time we’ve seen a sick son in Kings. In chapter 14, Jeroboam sends his wife to a prophet to request a prognosis for Abijah. Here, there is no husband,…
Elijah listened to the word of Yahweh and obeyed, and the ravens provided him with food. The widow of Zarephath gives water to Elijah, and also follows the word of Yahweh that comes through Elijah, and the very same thing happens to her: She receives a miraculous provision of food.…
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