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Writing

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

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Ascension

On the Ascension of the Lord

Leo the Great's second sermon on the Ascension, Sermon 74 . I. The mystery of our salvation, dearly-beloved, which the Creator of the universe valued at the price of His blood, has now been carried out under conditions of humiliation from the day of His bodily birth to the end…

by TheopolisMay 25, 2017
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Ecclesiology

Church on the Cross

Life, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy says, is suffering, battle, pain, shock, failure, elation. Human beings are always torn, always riven. Much of human life, individually and col­lectively, is an effort to deal with suffering and death. By being the first Man, Jesus establishes the possibility of a different stance toward suffering and…

by Peter LeithartMay 23, 2017
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Baptism

Baptism Impasse: Baptists vs. Presbyterians (Part 1)

Is Christian baptism given to believers only or to believers and their children? That’s the question that must be answered—but only if you’re Baptist or Presbyterian. That’s how the question is framed between these two denominations in this dispute, and it’s along these lines the debate unfolds as each side…

by Mani MarprelateMay 18, 2017
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Political Theology

Philanthropic God

Again and again the liturgy of St Chrysostom calls God a lover of mankind. He is Philanthropolos Theos (man-loving God), Kurios Philanthropolos (man-loving Lord), Philopsychos (lover of the soul). Philanthropy wasn’t a Christian invention. Roman benefactors gave benefits to subordinates. What was new was the shape of philanthropy, for the…

by Peter LeithartMay 16, 2017
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Marriage

Marriage and Betrayal

Perhaps the most fearful of all possibilities in the world is the possibility of betrayal on the part of someone who is in a “position of trust.” This, unfortunately, is the first block in what ought to be the foundation of every marriage in the world. Every woman has a…

by Richard BledsoeMay 11, 2017
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City

Church in the Metropolis

It seems that denominationalism has had its day. A 2009 Barna survey found that denominational commitments have gone squishy in mainline Protestant churches, and Evangelicals don’t fare much better than the rest. After a similar survey, Ron Sellers of Ellison Research said that Protestants are as “loyal to their denominations…

by Peter LeithartMay 9, 2017

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Art

Bloom’s Tragic Aesthetics

And in case there is any doubt that Bloom’s aesthetics is tragic: He claims that a poet is always one who is “rebelling more strongly against the consciousness of death’s necessity than all other men and women do.” (Call this the “heroic poet,” operating by the code of heroic honor…

November 5, 2003
Art

Bloom’s Tragic Aesthetics

And in case there is any doubt that Bloom’s aesthetics is tragic: He claims that a poet is always one who is “rebelling more strongly against the consciousness of death’s necessity than all other men and women do.” (Call this the “heroic poet,” operating by the code of heroic honor…

November 5, 2003
Art

The Priority of Nature

In the introduction to Anxiety of Influence , Harold Bloom quotes Geoffrey Hartman to the effect that art seeks “to overcome priority,” specifically the priority of nature: “art fights nature on nature’s own ground, and is bound to lose.” Bloom, of course, links this up with his own project of…

November 5, 2003

Sermon Outline, November 9

Sermon outline for November 9: Where Your Treasure Is, Luke 12:1-53 INTRODUCTION Luke 11 ended with Jesus’ most clear and pointed condemnation of “this generation,” which would be charged with all the blood of prophets from Abel to Zechariah (11:51-52). Throughout the following two chapters, this threat is in the…

November 5, 2003
Philosophy

Final Cause

For Thomas, the “final cause” is the first cause. That is, the purpose for which a thing is done is what initiates doing the thing. I plan to retire to Tahiti; that is my final purpose. And that is the cause that initiates the various schemes of earning and saving…

November 4, 2003

Mann on the Joseph Narrative

Thomas W. Mann has some interesting comments on the Joseph narrative in his 1988 book The Book of Torah: The Narrative Integrity of the Pentateuch . First, he points out that Joseph’s “trial” of his brothers is equally a trial of his father; Jacob initially refuses to give up his…

November 4, 2003

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