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Writing

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

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Culture

An Introduction to the Sacred Music of Josquin

This essay is adapted from my articles in Theopolis’s In Medias Res as a series of Holy Week meditations. Like many celebrities such as Kanye or Beyoncé or Adele, Josquin des Prez (d. 1521) was often known only by his first name, in his own time as now. “Josquin” is…

by John AhernJuly 29, 2025
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Numbers

Sight and Memory: Examining the Monuments of Numbers

Sight is a major theme in the scriptures. The church has long identified sight’s relationship to the future fulfillment of the eschaton. As Paul says, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Cor 13.12). Sight is associated with…

by Matthew DarbyJuly 22, 2025
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Biblical Theology

Yahweh’s Flame: the Gospel through Symbolism

What is the chief end of man? —yes, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But how ought man–and all creation–so glorify him? I propose a Theopolitan addition to the catechism, question and answer number 1.5, begun in the last question and answered as follows: Earth’s inhabitants were created to…

by Ben LoveladyJuly 16, 2025
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Culture

Morality and the Practice of Poetry

Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. Genesis 49:21 Frederick Buechner once said, “We move into the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” In poetry, this happens by way of a compressed code of analogs; often, two or more very ordinary things begin to reveal something that…

by Garrett SoucyJuly 8, 2025
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Ephesians

The Trinitarian Structure of Obedience

The evangelical milieu of America has often lost a vision of the fruit of repentance. We tend to simplify repentance by asking for forgiveness. After all, Jesus tells Peter to forgive 70 times 7. This verse must be paired with Paul’s scoffing at the question: why not sin more so…

by Matthew CoreyJuly 3, 2025
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Luke

The Hemorrhaging Woman, the Eucharist, and the Sermon

I. The hemorrhaging woman. En route to Jairus’ house, Jesus is touched by a woman with a hemorrhage of blood (Matt 9:18–26; Mk 5:21–34; Lk 8:40–48). The story is one that many of us know very well. She has been yoked to her illness for twelve years, all of her…

by Mark BriansJuly 1, 2025

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Philosophy

Robert Solomon on Love

Robert C. Solomon’s About Love (1988) is a wise and important book. I have some reservations about some themes: that love must be defined as the redefinition of the self in terms of another; his acceptance of a largely discredited opposition of eros and agape ; his non-Christian sexual morality;…

June 2, 2004
Theology

Of Preaching and Newspapers

Sermons are rarely more tiresome than when they strive for relevance. Drawing from the latest headlines transforms the preacher into a one-man MacLaughlin Group, a Crossfire without the cross though perhaps with some of the fire, and leaves the congregation thinking, ?If I wanted Meet the Press , I could…

June 2, 2004
Theology

Death of Liberalism?

Among theologians, it has become de rigeur to attack liberalism. Several decades ago, George Lindbeck and Hans Frei formulated the foundations of what has come to be called ?postliberal?Etheology, and John Milbank and his Radical Orthodoxy colleagues attack liberal theology across the board. But I have my doubts. Bruce Marshall…

June 1, 2004

A Cheer for Denominations

Here is an article that was published elsewhere, but is offered here for those who don’t have access to the original publication. Denominationalism gets much bad press these days, for a variety of very good reasons. John Frame, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, has argued that denominations…

June 1, 2004
Philosophy

Art of Living

The phrase “art of living” can have an aestheticist ring to it. Life becomes a “work of art,” a self-conscious dramatization. Someone concerned about the “art of living” may well forget to be concerned with living itself. Of course, self-forgetfulness is part of the art, but that’s another story. In…

May 28, 2004

Jesus and Postmodernism

Jesus predicted the rise of postmodernism. In Luke 21:27, He says that after the tribulation there will be “distress of nations, with APORIA.” Derrida didn’t catch Jesus by surprise. Nossir. But this does put dispensational premils at a disadvantage, since it implies that Derrida’s parousia (or, better, non-parousia) is a…

May 28, 2004

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