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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The following is an excerpt taken from my Blessed Are the Hungry (Canon, 2000). The Lord’s Supper is the world in miniature; it has cosmic significance. Within it we find clues to the meaning of all creation and all history, to the nature of God and the nature of man,…
John of Salisbury, the 12th-century political thinker, called Orosius, author of Seven Books of HIstories against the Pagans , a "disciple of the great Augustine." It's true. According to Francis Oakley ( Empty Bottles of Gentilism ), Orosius "had studied with Augustine from 414 to 415, and he himself tells…
Elizabeth Digeser ( Making of a Christian Empire ) observes that the Roman emperor Diocletian came to the purple with a disadvantage: He was a usurper. He needed to secure his power, lest another usurp his place. His strategy was to distribute power to a Tetrarchy, and to claim divine…
Thomas argues ( ST I, 28, 2) that since "everything which is not the divine essence is a creature" and "relation really belongs to god," it follows that relation is identical to essence. More fully: "whatever has an accidental existence in creatures, when considered as transferred to God has a…
Peter Schjeldahl claims that Auguste Rodin "or his hand, as his mind’s executive—wrenched figurative sculpture from millennia of tradition and sent it tumbling into modernity." He admits that There’s a stubborn tinge of vulgarity about Rodin, inseparable from his strength." Yet even when we are put off by vulgarity, "your…
"The doctrine of the Trinity is only possible as a piece of baffled theology," writes Joseph Ratzinger ( Introduction to Christianity , 122). This is true in a sheer historical sense: "Every one of the big basic concepts in the doctrine of the Trinity was condemned at one time or…
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