Theopolis Logo

Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

See all
sixteen-miles-out-ki3hr9t8t7a-unsplash
Biblical Horizons

Gordon Wenham on Ritual

In a brief article entitled, “The Theology of Old Testament Sacrifice," Gordon Wenham, expanding on a comment about ritual from anthropologist Monica Wilson, states: We resort to ritual when we want to express our deepest feelings. Consider the rituals used in greeting people in our society: a nod, a handshake,…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 27, 1995
screen-shot-2022-04-12-at-7-14-44-am
Biblical Horizons

A Postscript to the Meyers Thesis

Everyone here in Cambridge is talking about sacrifice. My supervisor, Dr. John Milbank, is working on a book on gift in which he is dealing with recent literature on sacrifice. The graduate seminar in Systematics during Michaelmas Term focused on the theme of sacrifice. The first presenter was Dr. Ian…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 27, 1995
e99a2313
Baptism

Sacramental Efficacy

Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato , virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the hocus-pocus and "presto!" the sacraments confer grace.…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 26, 1995
sony-dsc
Exodus

Mansions in the Sky, The Meaning of the Tabernacle

When Israel came out of Egypt, she was a collection of tribes descended from the Tribe of Abraham. Tribalism drops out of history into the "world" by looking back to ancestors and by orienting to the spirits that govern the world. The world must not be manipulated, because to do…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995
screen-shot-2022-03-31-at-8-39-54-am
Revelation

The Angels of Revelation

Angels are the mediators of the Old Creation, as Eugenio Corsini has rightly pointed out in his commentary, The Apocalypse. For this reason, argues Corsini, the book of Revelation must have to do with the final end of the Old Creation order, which he associates with the work of Jesus…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995
jan-kahanek-g3o5ztrk2e4-unsplash
Biblical Horizons

Triune Revelation and Through New Eyes Volume 2

Our procedure in "Through New Eyes Volume 2" thus far has been to lay out the general overview of history and its meaning as the Bible presents it. My hope is to fill this out in four major sections, corresponding to the four ages and the four testaments in the…

by James B. JordanJanuary 7, 1995

Showing page 273 of 309

See all
See all

Spielberg's Ambivalence

K risten Thompson devotes several pages of her Apocalyptic Dread , a study of apocalyptic in contemporary film, analyzing Spielberg's 2005 remake of War of the Worlds . She points to the “film’s extensive references to 9/11 and terrorism as the new marker of dread in the twenty-first century.” She…

May 26, 2016

The Sacrament of the Suffering Body

F elecia Wright McDuffie's To Our Bodies Turn We Then is a study of Donne's understanding of the body as “word and sacrament.” Drawing from Donne's poetry, sermons, and prose writing, she summarizes Donne's view of the human body as created, fallen, redeemed, and recreated. All along the way, McDuffie…

May 25, 2016

Dark Music

P utting “film noir ” and “musical” in the same sentence may seem absurd. If any film genre is sunlight and sentiment, seething with clappy optimism, it's the musical. And noir is something different. Sheri Biesen's Music in the Shadows shows that the two forms have cohabited for decades: “The…

May 25, 2016

Unchosen Temples

W ho teaches your U.S.A. children how to choose their temple? What to love enough not to think two times?” These questions are posed in the broken English of Remy Maranthe, one of the Wheelchair Assassins who populate David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest . After Canada is forced into the…

May 25, 2016

Creation and Recreation

C J Labuschagne points out in his Numerical Secrets of the Bible that “Exod 39:32–43 tells how the Tabernacle with all its equipment was presented to Moses, who inspected all the work and saw that the craftsmen had done their work according to the command of the Lord, and he…

May 24, 2016

God Speaking to God

C J Labuschagne ( Numerical Secrets of the Bible ) highlights the use of 11-fold literary patterns in the Pentateuch. The creation account, for instance, uses the formula “and God said” eleven times, concluding with the creation of Eve: “This coherence is found also in the eleventh divine utterance in…

May 24, 2016

Showing page 286 of 2212

Browse by Category

In Medias Res

Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.

Donate

Theopolis is nearly 100% donor-supported. Consider joining us on our mission.