Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Paradosis Center at John Brown University in Siloam Spring, Arkansas, put on its first conference last week, it was a remarkable event. It was an ecumenical conference including Orthodox (John Behr, Edith Humphrey, others), Catholic (Rusty Reno, Michael Root, others), and Evangelical (Timothy George, David Lyle Jeffrey). Unusually for…
Naphtali Meshel observes in his new The "Grammar" of Sacrifice that scholars have been talking for decades about the "grammatical" character of ritual and sacrifice in general, but have never actually analyzed a specific ritual or sacrificial system grammatically. Some even talk about a "universal grammar" of sacrifice "even though…
Some Christians are rather breezy about the problem of evil. We shouldn't be. Do I need to remind you of the grisly beheadings that have taken place over the past few weeks? Do I need to remind you of the blood of innocents that’s been spilled in our own country?…
Have you ever been to a wedding where the heavens opened and a voice declared the couple “husband and wife”? Few of us have. Beautiful as they are, most marriages are quite mundane. Yet when Jesus talks about marriage, He describes it as something that God does: “What God has…
Jesus is the last and greatest of the Prophets. He is the Prophet that Moses predicted (Deuteronomy 18). That means He gives the final word, brings the blueprints for the final temple, speaks the final world into existence, and has complete and permanent access to the divine court, where He…
Paul stands against those who are “troubling” or “disturbing” the Galatians churches ( tarasso ; 1:7; also in 5:10). The reference seems to be two great troublers from the Old Testament. First, Achan is described as a “troubler” for the problems he causes in the aftermath of the battle at…
Showing page 168 of 309
Showing page 40 of 43
One aspect of the rise of “discipline” that Foucault traces is the development of what he calls the sciences of the individual. These are dependent upon the development of a network of techniques of gathering and recording information - “the accumulation of documents, their seriation, the organization of comparative fields…
Discussing Nietzsche’s view of nobility, Alphonso Lingis emphasizes the role of forgetfulness. Though he’s not writing theology, this is (making necessary allowances) one of the best descriptions of the existential effects of justification by faith that I’ve run across. I’m sure it’s been studied by someone, but it makes me…
Kolakowski describes the New Left revolution of the 60s as an “explosion of academic youth” and “an aggressive movement born of frustration.” It “easily created a vocabulary for itself out of Marxist slogans, or some expressions from the Marxist story: liberation, revolution, alienation, etc.” Yet, in fact, “its ideology really…
Marx ( German Ideology , 1845-46) objected to historians of the past for what they left out of history. The first presumption of historical study, he suggested, is “human existence,” which means that “men must be in a position to live in order to be able to ‘make history.’” Seems…
The latter part of chapter 2 is chiastically arranged: A. Children, antichrists coming, they went out, 2:18-19 B. You have an anointing, knowledge, 2:20 C. I have written, truth/lie, 2:21 D. Antichrist is liar, denies Son and Father, 2:22 E. Deny Son, deny Father, 2:23 D’. Abide in what you…
What theologians was Feuerbach reading? If God is to be transcendent, he said, “the human, considered as such, is depreciated . . . . To enrich God, man must become poor; that God may be all in all, man must be nothing.” He certainly wasn’t reading Paul, or if he…
Showing page 1780 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
