Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Introduction Isaiah 21 can only be understood in the light of its placement in the architecture of the second “volume” of the prophecy (chapters 13–27). The contents are arranged in twin sevenfold “columns” that represent the great bronze pillars of Solomon’s Temple: Jachin and Boaz, priest and king. The priestly…
A Biblical Reflection on the Purpose of the Constellations The starry heavens hold a place of wonder in the hearts of men. Since man’s creation we have looked up into the heavens and have beheld its glory. This is particularly true of the night sky. The stars, in their shinning…
The case for there being five discourses within the Gospel according to Matthew is a hard one to challenge: surely the closing formula “when Jesus finished these sayings” as found in 8:1, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, and 26:1 settles it once and for all. And by the five instances of the…
The Long Commission The Great Commission of Matthew 28 has long been a cornerstone of American Evangelicalism. It has formed and fashioned the American church’s missional impulse. Yet when viewed from the wide lens of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, the Great Commission is revealed as one of the pillars…
I am delighted to see that more and more churches in the Reformed tradition are now recognizing that all baptized children are members of the body of Christ and therefore ought to be communing with the rest of the body at the Lord’s Table. This has been decades in the…
Good leaders have always been rare. In today’s world, they seem extinct. Joe Rigney’s recent book Leadership and Emotional Sabotage digs into the spiritual reasons for the leadership epidemic and recommends cures. Rigney starts with a summary of a book by Edwin Friedman called A Failure of Nerve . Friedman’s…
Showing page 13 of 309
Showing page 39 of 43
Basics of the biblical symbolism of birds 1)Birds were created on Day 5 of the creation week, along with swarmers of the sea, i.e., fish. Earlier, Elohim had formed earth into a three-decker house, firmament above, earth beneath, waters under the earth. He fills the firmament on Day 4 (with…
A highlight from the latest edition of Mars Hill Audio . If you're not a subscriber, shame on you.D.C. Schindler explains the significance of the classical claim that actuality is prior to potentiality. It means that potential is limited (and also unleashed) by the particular thing that a thing is.…
Thomas Aquinas ( ST I-II, q. 100, art. 5) compares the role of law in human communities with the role of divine law in the commonwealth of men under God: “just as the precepts of human law direct man in his relations to the human community, so the precepts of…
In an essay in a Festschrift for Daniel Block (available here ), Jason DeRouchie wants to teach us to count to ten, as in Ten Commandments. He examines the Hebrew cantillation signs, discourse features, stylistic elements of the Ten to settle which of the various numbering systems is preferable. One…
The "shadow" of sacrificial, tragic mythos, writes David Bentley Hart (in an essay on the First Word in I Am the Lord Your God ), "falls across the philosophical schools of antiquity" (63). Ancient philosophy wasn't, in short, a systematization of obvious common sense, but of ancient common sense. Which…
In the second volume of Robert Jenson’s Systematic Theology (2001), he discusses the Ten Words. His treatment of “Thou shalt not commit adultery” is profoundly important. Sexuality is the intersection of sensuality and reproduction. Sensuality is “the sheer fact that the subject is drawn to an object; it is captivation…
Showing page 47 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
