Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Can it be that it has been two whole years since I contributed a Theopolis Post! I had been pursuing the topic of integration: “Seeking Integration in a Fragmented World.” I had defined “integration,” simply, as creative putting together. I had posed that seeking it calls for a fundamentally integrative…
What is known as the miracle of the “Feeding of the Five Thousand” occurs in Mark’s Gospel in chapter 6. As with other gospel writers, Mark has a few different points to make as he moves through this story (included in all four gospel accounts) and its surrounding material. Three…
To begin with the source of this narrative: Since no human being was present to observe these events, we must assume that this narrative was revealed directly by God to a human author. There are three ways this might have happened. First, we might read, "God said to Abraham (or…
The serious Bible student cannot help but be struck by the deviousness of Jacob in Genesis 27. If one already expected some underhanded dealings from this twin-born-second whose name means “supplanter” and whose bargaining with his brother for the birthright in Genesis 25 seemed incredibly weighted in his own favor,…
From Barna stats to mainstream headlines, it seems as though the discordant nature of this last year has taken such a toll on churches in the United States that, for many, the injuries have been fatal. It has become a regular occurrence to hear about a congregation that continues to…
In The Bad News Bears (1976), a city councilman hires a washed-up minor league baseball player with a drinking problem to coach a little league team of leftover misfits. Underdog sports movies are usually full of sentimentalism and dramatic victories, but this film is a commentary on the failing dream…
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1 Chronicles 11–12 form a unit, framed by references to David’s coronation ceremony at Hebron: A. Gathering at Hebron, conquest of Jerusalem, 11:1–10 B. David’s followers while a fugitive, 11:11–47 B'. David’s host at Ziklag, 12:1–22 A’. Coronation festival at Hebron, 12:23–40 11:1-10 is itself framed by references to “all…
I n a 2014 piece published in First Things , I offered a “wish list” for Protestant churches, a checklist for a future catholic Protestantism. The wish list doesn't cover everything. It doesn't mention those things that Protestants, especially Evangelicals, already do, often exceedingly well, things like missions and evangelism…
D ante is moving through the circle of the lustful (Comedy, Canto 5) and sees a host of classical lovers. Among them is Semiramis, less famous than Dido or Cleopatra, but an exceedingly important illustration of how lust misshapes language and law. Rodney Payton explains ( A Modern Reader’s Guide…
E xplaining the moral structure of hell in Canto 11 of Dante’s Comedy , Virgil lays out three general categories of sin: incontinence, malice, and mad bestiality (lines 83-4). That’s not quite what we expect, or what most commentators see. It seems more like incontinence, violence, and fraud. Incontinent sins…
R odney Payton ( Modern Reader’s Guide to Dante’s Inferno , 88–89) observes that “Dante’s vocabulary is rich in words denoting water,” including “the Italian words for water, river, little river, bog, marsh, stream, pond, slough, fount, and waves, at lest. In many cases the nouns are modified by adjectives…
A ntonio of Venice is inexplicable sad. So is Portia of Belmont, her “little body . . . aweary of this great world” ( Merchant of Venice 2.1). Antonio and Portia have all that they could want. They aren’t anxious about money; neither is pining for love. Why so sad?…
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