Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Optimism is “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.” 1 On the other hand, pessimism is “an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome.” We can see that optimism and…
If we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of…
“I chant slips and irreversible disasters, wiltings, failures, scars, the little disappointments and the large, blue streaks down a world that wishes it was only suncolors.” Paul J. Pastor from Kintsugi Song I recently lost something very valuable. Something I’d had for years and used every day. But, it wasn’t…
In his eponymous book, Jonah follows an exodus pattern. He travels through the waves and east of the city into the wilderness. On a first reading, it looks like another use of this common literary shape in the Old Testament: salvation through the waters of death and the wilderness of…
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” The unknowing master of ceremonies didn’t know how right he was. We see this play out in John’s apocalypse. The end is like the beginning,…
Read in isolation, The Test of Adultery (Num 5:11-31) presents the reader with a seemingly bizarre ritual, conjuring up ideas bordering on the Salem Witch Trials. Beyond this, pressing questions linger—such as, “Why is the woman in particular singled out, while no test is provided for the husband of a…
Showing page 23 of 309
Showing page 40 of 43
1 John 1:1: What our hands have handled. We often think fondly of how wonderful it would have been to be alive in Palestine when Jesus was around. We wouldn’t have to believe on the testimony of anyone else. We could have seen all those miracles with our own eyes.…
At the beginning of his epistle, John emphasizes the eyewitness testimony of the apostles. They preach about things that they have seen and heard with their own ears and eyes, things they have touched. Since we haven’t done any of that, we rely on their testimony, and that is troublesome…
Some thoughts on the sun/light symbolism in Genesis, inspired by a number of fine student papers on the subject. 1) The symbolism is set up in the first day of creation. Creation’s original state is dark, formless, and empty; and the work of creation produces a world that is bright,…
An epic poem by my son Christian. Sing goddess, of the procrastination of Peter’s son Christian and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon his GPA, hurled in its glory to the house of hated C’s, and his strong soul of a hero quailed at the thought of the righteous…
An epic poem by my son Christian. Sing goddess, of the procrastination of Peter’s son Christian and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon his GPA, hurled in its glory to the house of hated C’s, and his strong soul of a hero quailed at the thought of the righteous…
At the Retreat organized by the asylum reformer Samuel Tuke, the inmates would occasionally enjoy social occasions where the rules of etiquette would be strictly observed. In Tuke’s own description, they would “dress in their best clothes, and vie with each other in politeness and propriety. The best fare is…
Showing page 1788 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
