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31-03-0213
Hermeneutics

Apocalyptic Eyes

Flying scrolls. Red horses. Beasts coming out of the sea. Winged women. The list goes on. Apocalyptic literature in the Bible is like a cross between science fiction and Marvel comics. And the Bible has a fair bit of this sort of thing. Daniel sees visions in Babylon, Zechariah sees…

by Toby SumpterNovember 4, 2014
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Theopolis News

New Name, New Look

Trinity House Institute has taken a new name, the Theopolis Institute. This striking new name expresses our unique vision and mission and captures the unified purpose behind all our specific programs and activities. We still have Bible, liturgy, and culture in our tagline. We still offer the same courses on…

by TheopolisNovember 4, 2014
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Atonement

Not Fearing the Devil

Adam Kotsko offers a socio-political variation on the Christus Victor atonement theory in his 2010 study, The Politics of Redemption: The Social Logic of Salvation . He does this by explaining "the devil" in terms of the Hegelian concept of "objective spirit," Geist . As Kotsko puts it, Geist "refers…

by Peter LeithartOctober 13, 2014
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Leviticus

The Meaning of Sacrifice

Two factors keep Nahtali Meshel from discussing the meaning of sacrifice until late in his The "Grammar" of Sacrifice . The first has to do with the texts he draws from: "P says little about the meaning of its rituals" (174). The other has to do with the grammatical theory…

by Peter LeithartOctober 8, 2014
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Leviticus

Praxemics

Chapter 5 of Naphtali Meshel's The "Grammar" of Sacrifice focuses on "praxemics," the physical actions of sacrificial ritual. Praxemes are constituted by six elements: an "atomact," an elementary physical act or gesture; an actor; an object that is acted up; a target for the action and often for the object…

by Peter LeithartOctober 6, 2014
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Leviticus

Jugation and Hierarchy

Two chapters of Naphtali Meshel’s The “Grammar” of Sacrifice cover what he calls “jugation” and “hierarchies.” The first involves the addition of other materials to an animal offering. Jugates include wine, cereal, and oil that are added to the animals (zoemes) that are offered in sacrifice. Some jugates are coordinated…

by Peter LeithartOctober 1, 2014

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Ecclesiastes v. Proverbs?

Ecclesiastes is for many Christians the strangest book in the Bible. It seems especially strange in comparison with Proverbs. Proverbs is encouraging and comforting. It tells us that those who pursue wisdom will attain it, and that with wisdom will come wealth and power and all sorts of other blessings.…

June 10, 2019
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PentecostPneumatology

Why Celebrate Pentecost?

An old Pentecostal riff, in shadowy imitation of Christopher Smartt . Why celebrate Pentecost? Because the Spirit is the hovering wind that forms the formlessness, fills the void, brightens the darkness. Because the Spirit is the breath that gives Adam life. Because the Lord comes into the garden in the…

June 7, 2019
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American Politics

The Alternatives to David-Frenchism

Last week at First Things , Sohrab Ahmari launched a blistering barrage against the views, public posture, and political theology of National Review's David French. In place of French's "earnest and insistently polite" demeanor, his insistence on civility and his appeals to pluralism, his struggle to carve out a safe…

June 3, 2019
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Economics

Politics of Price

What determines prices? Supply and demand, says anyone with a modicum of training in economics. Right, says Barry C. Lynn ( Cornered ): "In any open market that is populated by many small buyers and many small sellers, if the producers try to raise their prices high enough to make…

May 27, 2019
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Male, Female, Circumcision

Well, here’s something interesting. At least it interested me. “Male” (Heb. zakar ) first appears in Genesis 1:27, paired with female (Heb. neqevah ). God creates ‘adam male and female, in His image and likeness. For the next several chapters of Genesis, zakar is always paired with neqevah . Genesis…

May 22, 2019
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Literary and Structural notes on Romans 1:18-2:11

Romans 1:18-32 is is part of a section that goes at least to the end of chapter 3. More nearly, the subsection beginning at 1:18 goes to about 2:11. It's hard to find where the seams in the text are, but there are reasons to think that this section doesn’t…

May 20, 2019

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