Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
While I think Zacharias Ursinus’ thinking would be profitable to consider, I am not recording his reflections in order for readers to come to agreement with his position as a whole. Rather, my interest is twofold. First, I think the way the Heidelberg Catechisms is used as a “proof” of…
On this question Hebrews 10 is quite clear and really needs no additional argument. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume…
Not all readers of this essay letter may be aware of it, but a tempest has been brewing in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a tempest created by the liberal party in that denomination. It came about this way. In January 2002, a Pastor’s Conference on covenant theology was…
Once upon a time there was such a thing as Calvinistic thought. It existed when I was younger, but seems to have largely disappeared in recent years. But let me elaborate. When I became a Calvinist, back in 1970, I bought a bunch of books. Over the next few years,…
CHRIST THE PREACHER How Ephesians Shows Us Why Preaching is Essential to Salvation & Sanctification Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a…
Tracking the informal shifts in Protestant opinion regarding Baptism can be a difficult business. For example, in 1849 Anglican clergyman William Goode published his defense of Evangelicalism against the Anglo-Catholics under the title, The Doctrine of the Church of England as to the Effects of Baptism in the Case of…
Showing page 221 of 309
Showing page 39 of 43
Some of the following notes were taken from a longer introduction to Julius Caesar posted on this site some months ago. INTRODUCTION For several generations, Julius Caesar has been a staple of high school English literature, coming from a period when education was rooted in Greek and Roman classics and…
Paul Nickell’s 1951 Westinghouse Studio One production of Coriolanus is fast-paced, well-acted, and, making allowances for technological weaknesses, interesting and fun to watch. It is also very unlike the play that Shakespeare wrote. The play begins with plebs rioting (or milling around) in the streets of Rome, complaining about the…
The stage history of Coriolanus is as interesting as the play itself. It has provoked riots and demonstrations, and has been used as a way of preventing riots and demonstrations. Here are a few excerpts from RB Parker’s excellent introduction to the play (The Oxford Shakespeare): RIGHT-WING INTERPRETATIONS ?In reaction…
Glory and Song, 2 Chronicles 5:1-14 INTRODUCTION As we close out this brief series on worship, we will be looking at two separate but related issues: the glorification of worship, and music in worship. These are related in several ways: Music is itself a means of enhancing or glorifying worship;…
INTRODUCTION For Elizabethans, Rome was not only an ancient power but a very real contemporary power. The plays of Shakespeare that are set in Rome and those derived from Roman models often work in both registers, bringing papal Rome into plays set in ancient times. I will look at some…
I wonder: If we take Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as a play about both ancient and Papal Rome, then the point seems to be that ecclesiastical imperialism is unavoidable, that it will take its vengeance and return in more virulent forms. The “puritans” like Cassius attempt to cut the head off…
Showing page 2069 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
