Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Reflecting on the centennial of the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, Theopolis contributor Tim Nichols asked Dr. Leithart and me what the five fundamentals of the faith were today . His thoughts went something like this: Back in the early 20th century, in response to a ruinous drift away from the historic Christian…
1. Introduction In this article, I delve into some parallels found in the scholarly analysis of two important literary works: the Testimonium Flavianum by Josephus ( Antiquities 18.63–64) and the Olivet Discourse in the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 24–25). These texts have been at the center of countless academic discussions,…
Over the last twenty years, our American culture has created a culture of obsession over trauma. This could be a result of publications such as The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, which explores the lasting effect on health that traumatic experiences can have. Or it could…
The Beloved celebrates the beauty of his Shulamite’s lips, describing them as “a thread of crimson” upon a mouth that is altogether lovely (Song 4:3). It were easy perhaps to pass by this all too quickly, passing it off, if we attend to it at all, as a kind of…
This article originally appeared at American Reformer on October 29, 2025. Reproduced with permission. Why the West Was Never Meant to Be Governed by Law Alone Back in the early nineties, I was in the candidate process for Undergraduate Pilot Training with the Texas Air National Guard, hoping to fly…
In his book From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution , Peter Leithart shows that David, the author of so many Psalms and the musician who trained choirs, instituted a musical and liturgical revolution of how the people of Israel worshipped. The liturgical revolution in turn was designed to…
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INTRODUCTION Jesus opens His sermon pronouncing blessings. The Beatitudes imply certain attitudes and kinds of behavior, which are spelled out in the rest of the sermon. Above all, the Beatitudes are promises. As the one anointed by the Spirit, Jesus announces that God is working to turn the world right…
Matthew 5:20: I say to you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. I’ve suggested in the sermon that Jesus is giving His disciples and the crowds instructions in redemptive righteousness. He is telling them and us how…
“I say to you,” Jesus said, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” It’s easy to soften the force of this. Don’t. Jesus is not talking about His own personal righteousness imputed to us. He’s not talking about a…
In a 2003 article in JBL, Glen Stassen of Fuller Seminary examines what he describes as fourteen triads in the sermon on the mount. Along the way, he challenges the almost universal assumption that 5:17-48 is a collection of “antitheses,” arguing that Jesus’ instructions are not dyadic (as “antithesis” suggests)…
In a 1987 article and a 2005 revision (published in his Studies in Matthew ), Dale Allison offers a careful treatment of the structure of the sermon on the mount. To begin with, there are multiple verbal parallels between 4:25-5:2 and 7:28-8:1: “great crowds followed him” (4:25; 8:1); “the crowds”…
Jesus teaches the disciples on the mountain, we’re told in 5:1. Jesus sees multitudes, sits down, and the disciples come to Him. On the mountain, there is a circle within the circle. This is a new Sinai. Around Sinai, and around the tabernacle, there was a circle of priests and…
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