Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Romans 8:31-39 is better sung than commented upon. It’s a thrilling, ecstatic hymn of boisterous assurance that God’s purposes will be accomplished. Yet, I will attempt to comment on them. If we sing Paul’s hymn, let’s make sure we sing with understanding. Given the character of these verses, it’s easy…
"An ethic unshaped by eschatology is neither Jesus’ nor Christian.” - Tremper Longman How does an immature culture grow up? Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver is about the dangers of being lost in adolescence. By the end of the movie, the viewer is pointed to a road we infer leads to…
We are in the middle of our campaign for the end of the fiscal year. We've raised $30,000 from some major donors, and need to raise another $70,000 to meet our budget. Please consider becoming a regular donor , and keep reading to learn about a great opportunity. This brief…
Prolegomena 1. “You’re a pastor,” my new friend says as we sit down, “and you’re a massage therapist. How does that work?” To her, Christianity implies stuffy ideology, a disregard of the physical. A Christian massage therapist is an oddity; a pastor massage therapist is nearly a contradiction in terms.…
54% of Poles think favorably of Americans, only 13% unfavorably, according to Centrum Badania Opinii Spolecznej . Ten years ago, the numbers were 44% and 21% respectively. Twenty years ago, they were 64% and 6%. Back in the 1990s, Americans were the most liked nation among Poles. Now they are…
Stones of Life and Death Of course, the sex of a child is not a choice between light and darkness or life and death. Sex, like circumcision, is a horizontal demarcation, a delegation of roles within humanity. In contrast, the white stone and the black stone within the “liturgical scrotum”…
Showing page 109 of 309
Showing page 42 of 43
Walter Kasper's Harvesting the Fruits reports on various bi-lateral ecumenical dialogues between Catholics and other traditions—Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and Methodist. Kasper doesn't pretend that consensus has been achieved, but his little book summarizes the remarkable results of the past several decades. The fruits are healthy in the main. Catholics and…
The descendants of Levi constitute three sub-tribes in Israel: the Gershonites, the Kohathites, and the Merarites. Each has a specific role to play in the dismantling and re-erection of the wilderness tabernacle. The Gershonites are in charges of the coverings and screens, the Kohathites with the interior furnishings, and the…
In a wide-ranging 1993 review of work in sociology of Religion, Stephen Warner observes that what he calls the “new paradigm” uses economic imagery but isn't defined by economic imagery. Rather, the defining feature is “the idea that disestablishment is the norm” (1053). That is to say, North American pluralism…
Picturing the Apocalypse by Natasha and Anthony O'Hear is a wide-ranging study of artistic depictions of the book of Revelation. The introduction is a brief but well-informed survey of the interpretation and use of the apocalypse. Each chapter focuses on one portion or image of the apocalypse - the Lamb,…
Most studies of the divine warrior theme in the Old Testament are poetic or comparative. Charlie Trimm argues in “YHWH Fights for Them!” that these studies are too limited; brief poems need the enrichment and complexity of longer narrative treatments. His thorough, workmanlike monograph examines the theme in Exodus 1-15.…
John C. Peckham addresses the long-standing question of whether God's love is conditional or unconditional in his recent The Love of God: A Canonical Model . Peckham doesn't think that either is a good summary of the whole biblical picture. He prefers to talk about the “foreconditionality” of God's love,…
Showing page 385 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
