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

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American Religion

Protestantism's Lost Soul

D. G. Hart’s The Lost Soul of American Protestantism vividly clarifies the differences between evangelical and Confessional Protestantism. In part the book is a manifesto for historians of American religion. Hart argues that historians of American Protestantism have operated with a simplistic binary contrast of evangelical/conservative v. liberal/progressive. At best,…

by Peter LeithartAugust 18, 2015
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Books

The Idiot and the Limits of Compassion

Dostoyevsky’s novel, The Idiot , like his other major works, is a complex evaluation of the human condition—a juxtaposition of the innate goodness and innate evil that resides within every human heart. There is much one can say about The Idiot . I am no specialist of Russian literature, or…

by Gerald HiestandAugust 13, 2015
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Homosexuality

If There is “Natural Law” How Can People Believe in Same-Sex Marriage?

At risk of violating some secret handshake agreement on some important nuance to “natural law,” I will sum up what I understand in my own words. As far as I can tell natural law is supposed to be an area of knowledge that all people should be able to agree…

by Mark HorneAugust 11, 2015
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Biblical Studies

Cosmic Language, 2

The first installment of this article may be found here . The Image of Man This brings us to a substitutionary atonement which we do understand, the fulfilment of the cruciform Tabernacle in the cross of Christ. Although Jesus’ execution was Physical and Social, it was primarily Personal . Beginning…

by Mike BullAugust 6, 2015
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Genesis

Every Noise Appalls

The first two essays in this series drew attention to the structure of the first part of Macbeth and to the way Shakespeare incorporates the Garden of Eden into his story. Macbeth , we saw, is a temptation story in which, compared to the Biblical story, the temptation itself is…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 4, 2015
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Revelation

The Warrior and the City: A Wedding Homily

Revelation 19:6-9 Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For theLord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him,…

by Peter LeithartAugust 3, 2015

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Predestination and the Presence of God

Matthew Levering’s Predestination is, like everything he writes, clear, thorough, judicious, rich, biblically and historically informed. He starts with the church fathers and takes the story to the present worries (from David Hart among others) that predestination endangers the innocence of God. Levering recognizes the limits of patristic treatments of…

January 23, 2015

Theodicy and Chaste Women

In Book 1 of the City of God , Augustine responds to critics who pointed out that Christians and pagans, good and bad people, suffered equally in the destruction of Rome. As he summarizes the argument at the beginning of Book 2, he wrote to “relieve the anxieties which disturb…

January 23, 2015

Revolutions in Taste

Massimo Montanari claims in his Medieval Tastes that medieval tastes and customs regarding food were changed by two revolutions. One involves the discovery of new foods from the new world. Think, for instance, of “the impact of the tomato on Mediterranean cooking or the potato on the continental diet, not…

January 22, 2015

Ancients on the Ancients

Christopher B. Hays’s Hidden Riches is a well-organized, comprehensive compilation of Ancient Near Eastern sources - creation stories, flood stories, legal documents. It is a “bibliocentric” collection, attempting to draw out similarities and differences between biblical and other ANE documents. Hays begins the book with an overview of the comparative…

January 22, 2015

Theopolis Class Registration

The Book of Revelation has fascinated Christians for two millennia, but it is more discussed than understood. In the Easter Term intensive course at Theopolis, James Jordan and I will present a coherent overview of the book that emphasizes its historical setting in the first century, explains its Bible-saturated imagery…

January 22, 2015

The Prodigal and the Cross

The Prodigal Son parable (Luke 15) has been a favorite of liberal theologians for a couple of centuries. It seems to be a parable designed for liberal sensibilities: An indulgent, accepting Father; forgiveness extended without a cross; a surly older brother who might represent the “conservative” face of religion who…

January 22, 2015

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