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Sacramental Theology

The Gospel according to the Sacraments (Part 3): One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

In the first post of this series, I proposed that the sacraments of baptism and communion are the nexus point for the evangelical and ecumenical movements. In the following post , I proposed a new orientation for ecumenism – a conciliarity of the cross – with the necessary confession of…

by Michael SpalioneJanuary 2, 2018
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Baptism

Christian Mission and Cultural Transformation

“Contextualization” is now, and has been for a long time, the buzzword for the day. 1 Missionary effort in non-Western countries is all about “contextualization” — making our communication of the Gospel, if not the Gospel itself, fit into the culture to whom we from the West speak. 2 There…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 28, 2017
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Sacramental Theology

The Gospel According to the Sacraments, Part 2

In my previous post , I highlighted the sacraments as the point of convergence between evangelicalism and ecumenism arguing that baptism and communion are presented in the New Testament as signs of the gospel that simultaneously enact and remember union with Christ and the unity of Christ’s body. I concluded…

by Michael SpalioneDecember 27, 2017
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Baptism

Baptism and Contextualization: Part 2

Click HERE for Part I of this series. What does baptism have to do with culture? As I said in the previous essay, the short answer is “everything!” To begin with, baptism is baptism into Jesus’ death (Romans 6:3). Paul explains this as the crucifixion of the “old man” (“old…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 21, 2017
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Advent

Twin Nativities

In the accounts of our Lord’s nativity and early childhood, so familiar to us from many years of Advent and Christmas services, we often fail to recognize in them the gentle intimations of a greater nativity that is yet to come. The attentive ear, however, can discover in these passages…

by Alastair RobertsDecember 19, 2017
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Advent

Daughters of Zion

Isaiah warns that Yahweh is coming to remove Judah’s leaders in every area of social, economic and political life so completely that there will be no one left to lead besides children (3:4) and women (v. 12). As Isaiah goes on, however, it becomes clear that the women of Judah…

by Peter LeithartDecember 14, 2017

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AdventChristmas

Sons of God

Athanasius summed up a patristic truism when he said, "God became man so man might become God." All the Church Fathers believed this. So, in different ways, did medieval Christians and Zwingli and Bucer and Calvin and Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley. As Carl Moser has argued, deification is a…

December 22, 2025
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AdventChristmas

Advent is a Joke

A promise is given to Rebekah and Isaac, “the older will serve the younger,” and a child is born. Isaac, the son of laughter, brings both a beast and a deceiver into the world. He was not only a cause for laughter at his conception; he also delivered a punchline…

December 3, 2025
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Political Theology

Where's the Church?

When I read Christian Nationalists, Catholic post-liberals, communitarians, and others, I feel like the elderly woman in the old Wendy's commercial. She bit into a burger, got a mouthful of bun, and shouted, "Where's the beef?" I nibble on essays, and books, and tweets, get a mouthful of ethnicity, and…

December 2, 2025
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Keeping our Heads

When I was a boy, my mother hung a framed copy of Rudyard Kipling's "If" at the foot of my bed. I'm sure it was the first poem I memorized. Kipling's opening lines come to mind a lot lately: If you can keep your head when all about you Are…

November 19, 2025
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Biblical Studies

The Bible and the Middle East

Does Bible study matter - I mean, in the real world? Who cares what anyone thinks of Adam or Abraham, whether you're pre-, a-, or post-mil, when missiles are flying from Israel to Iran and back? Yes, Bible study matters, especially in the midst of today's war in the Middle…

November 7, 2025
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MasculinityWorship

Battle Prep

We’ve said it before at Theopolis: young men are in trouble. Our boys are increasingly addicted to tech and pornography, trading tangible, earthly pleasures for gnostic, disembodied simulations. And even those who aren’t enslaved to explicit pornography often live in a near-constant stream of cheap stimulation: swipes, clips, memes and…

November 5, 2025

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