Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Reflecting on the centennial of the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, Theopolis contributor Tim Nichols asked Dr. Leithart and me what the five fundamentals of the faith were today . His thoughts went something like this: Back in the early 20th century, in response to a ruinous drift away from the historic Christian…
1. Introduction In this article, I delve into some parallels found in the scholarly analysis of two important literary works: the Testimonium Flavianum by Josephus ( Antiquities 18.63–64) and the Olivet Discourse in the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 24–25). These texts have been at the center of countless academic discussions,…
Over the last twenty years, our American culture has created a culture of obsession over trauma. This could be a result of publications such as The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, which explores the lasting effect on health that traumatic experiences can have. Or it could…
The Beloved celebrates the beauty of his Shulamite’s lips, describing them as “a thread of crimson” upon a mouth that is altogether lovely (Song 4:3). It were easy perhaps to pass by this all too quickly, passing it off, if we attend to it at all, as a kind of…
This article originally appeared at American Reformer on October 29, 2025. Reproduced with permission. Why the West Was Never Meant to Be Governed by Law Alone Back in the early nineties, I was in the candidate process for Undergraduate Pilot Training with the Texas Air National Guard, hoping to fly…
In his book From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution , Peter Leithart shows that David, the author of so many Psalms and the musician who trained choirs, instituted a musical and liturgical revolution of how the people of Israel worshipped. The liturgical revolution in turn was designed to…
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T he genealogies of Chronicles begin with “Adam,” and the ancestors of the Chronicler's people Israel appear only after a half-chapter of names. Yet the Chronicler, like other Old Testament writers, considers Israel the “firstborn” nation (Exod. 4:23). As Scott Hahn puts it ( The Kingdom of God as Liturgical…
J esus can be an embarrassment, not least to disciples. Peter Brown points to an example in his recent The Ransom of the Soul , Jesus's statement to the rich young ruler to “go and sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in…
I n his stimulating meditation on The Dominion of the Dead , Robert Pogue Harrison observes, following Fustel de Coulanges, that “the ancient house and in its turn the ancient city, were founded upon such sepulchers” (26). Even empires are so founded. Witness The Aeneid : “After the destruction of…
W hatever happened to post-structuralism? asks Terry Eagleton in the TLS . Born in the latter part of the 1960s in reaction to the structural linguistics of Saussure and the structural anthropology of Levi-Strauss, post-structuralism presented itself as a liberation movement: “Structures were to be unmasked as less stable than…
Y ahweh promised Abraham a land and a seed to plant in it. He planted a vineyard and it filled the land. Then He drive them from the land, scattered them out among the Gentiles. “Cast your bread on the water,” Solomon says. “For you will find it after many…
1 Chronicles 9:1 sounds like closure. Israel's genealogies are enrolled, and the Chronicler cites the source of his information, the book of the Kings of Israel. Judah is off in Babylonian exile because of her unfaithfulness. Yet the text moves on, and the genealogy isn't yet done. After the end,…
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