Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I just finished re-reading G. K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday . I have in the past had the temerity to say that I believe it to be the best novel of the 20th century. Be that as it may, I still maintain that it is at least one…
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that thoughts out of many hearts may be…
I was inspired to write this article after reading John Ahern’s The Case for Shorter Hymnals first published on Theopolis Institute’s website on November 16, 2021. Mr. Ahern and I are writing with different audiences and emphases in mind. I am thankful we both share a mutual desire to see…
If you’ve spent any time in the social-media galaxy of Christian cultural commentators, you have almost definitely run across the Latin phrase Imago Dei . It means image of God . Why they usually say it in Latin, I couldn’t tell you. We saw it in the wake of the…
The Gospel of Matthew—indeed, the New Testament—begins with a list of names, and that list of names is introduced by this heading: “The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Why start like this? Why “the son of David” and “the son…
A blade is raised. A child wails. But the brow under the crown is untroubled. Solomon knows that the raising of the sword will reveal the true parent and the identity of the son. But how did he know this? Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac certainly bears some of the…
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From Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols , on "reason" in philosophy: "You ask me what all idiosyncrasy is in philosophers? . . . For instance their lack of the historical sense, their hatred even of the idea of Becoming, their Egyptianism. They imagine that they do honour to a thing…
Martin Hauge's Descent from the Mountain draws attention to the parallels between Israel's reaction to Yahweh's direct revelation of the Ten Words (Exodus 20:18-21) and the golden calf incident and its aftermath (Exodus 32-34). The two episodes are introduced similarly: "the formal contacts of 20.18 and 32.1 [are] possible signs…
What does Yahweh mean when He introduces Himself to Moses as ' ehyeh ʾăšer 'ehyeh (Exodus 3)? Victor Hamilton (Exodus) notes that the traditional translation "I am who I am" is too constricting. Grammatically the phrase has multiple possible meanings: "The term 'ehyeh is a first-person imperfect of the verb…
Paul DeHart argues that Christianity, not the Enlightenment, gave us the separation of church and state. He cites Gelasius. He points out that Christianity challenged the near-universal institution of sacral kingship on Christological grounds. He of course alludes to Jesus' statement about the things of God and the things of…
Eric Laursen's forthcoming The Duty to Stand Aside provides an intimate glimpse into British debates about Allied tactics during World War II. He focuses on the "wartime quarrel of George Orwell and Alex Comfort." Orwell needs no introduce. Comfort is best known for his Joy of Sex , published long…
The letter to the Hebrews is sometimes read as a brief for a cultless, liturgy-free Christianity. Barnabas Lindars ( Theology of the Letter to the Hebrews ) argues that, on the contrary, the letter is a defense of Christian cult. He provides an innovative sketch of the pastoral impetus behind…
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