Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
That there is something wrong with the world is obvious. It does not take much time or brilliance to notice it. Once we get the feeling that we could imagine a better world, we are tempted to fix it or, if we cannot, to escape it. For both the world-fixers…
“Our Father in heaven,” what is man that we should be called your sons and daughters, beloved children of God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, Yahweh of Hosts, the Ancient of Days. You are not a father preoccupied with work or engrossed in your smartphone; you are a present…
The Son of God took on human flesh and entered into the sin and suffering of our world. His life and teaching and suffering from His conception to His suffering on the cross teaches us a lot about how the good news enters into the world. Recently, I was teaching…
There is an unspoken rule about typology that permeates Evangelical thinking. It goes something like this: “If the New Testament authors don’t use an Old Testament character as a type, we don’t either.” There is a soundness in this reasoning, at least in a preliminary sense. There is no better…
In The world of Silence, Max Picard writes, “There does not seem to be any space left where there could possibly have been anything but noise. We take it for granted much as we take the air itself for granted. Everything begins and ends with noise.” Is it fair to…
God is Not There God is not in the book of Esther. Do a word search and you will get 0 results. Also try Lord, Yahweh, Prayer, Temple, or Sacrifice. Even names with God’s name in them, like Elijah, Jeremiah, or Daniel are missing. The fool says in his heart,…
Showing page 57 of 309
Showing page 43 of 43
Jim Jordan once again stole the show during our Pentecost Term course a few weeks ago. He’s still recovering from his strokes, moves slowly, gets tired easily, shakes when he stands too long – and he’s still the most stimulating teacher anywhere. Jim devoted several lectures to explaining how women…
David Bentley Hart has some very wise things to say about tradition and traditionalism in the opening section of his new Tradition and Apocalypse . The concept of tradition formulated in John Henry Newman’s 1845 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine and updated by Maurice Blondel’s 1904 History and…
The following was originally published in 2013 at FirstThings.com . When Israel’s prophets predict the future coming of the Spirit, their next thought is almost always about the renewal of creation. According to Joel, the Spirit’s coming will turn Israel into Big Rock Candy Mountain”wine tricklin’ down the mountains, a…
I liked Sohrab Ahmari’s The Unbroken Thread more than I expected to. The subtitle refers to “the wisdom of tradition,” and I expected a book pointing to generic “tradition,” drawn from classical, Christian, and other sources, as our social Savior. We need to renounce that kind of Messianism as strenuously…
With the looming prospect that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, the old charge that Christians favor "theocracy" has, predictably, bubbled to the surface. Just as predictably, Christians repudiate the charge . This 2018 essay from FirstThings.com is once again (or still) relevant . Ever since the Religious Right burst…
Genesis 16 records the story of Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, who bears Abram’s son, Ishmael. A number of scholars say this chapter is the center, or near the center, of the Abrahamic narrative (Genesis 12-25). That’s very odd. Hagar is never mentioned before chapter 16, but suddenly takes center stage. Her…
Showing page 10 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
