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Writing

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

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Contentment

When Contentment is a Sin

Maybe you have heard it said that you will be content when you learn to empty yourself of all your desire. If you want nothing, you will always be happy with what you have. Maybe this seemed like an extremely godly point of view, and you felt guilty that you…

by Lindsey TollefsonMarch 21, 2023
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Epistemology

Longing to Know Turns 20

I write to mark a milestone and to commend to you an old book: my first philosophy book, Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People (Brazos, 2003), has reached its twentieth anniversary. Although two decades have passed, the book continues to be relevant to our affairs in…

by Esther Lightcap MeekMarch 14, 2023
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Discipleship

No Coffee in Israel: Full Spectrum Disciple Making

Consider what we mean today when we talk about “discipling” someone. In a typical evangelical setting, that’s going to mean you grab a cup of coffee for an hour once a week. You’ll talk about life, share some wisdom, pray for each other. There may be Bible reading and Scripture…

by Tim NicholsMarch 7, 2023
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Biblical Studies

Memorizing Scripture

Theopolitan Bible Memorization BINDING THE WORD TO YOUR HEART Memorization has been an important tool for humanity since the beginning. In an age where smart phones are ubiquitous, memorization appears outdated. Why memorize anything that could be looked up on a phone in seconds? This new technology leaves many unable…

by Matthew DarbyMarch 1, 2023
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Theopolis News

Announcement: The James B. Jordan Prize

2022-2023 Prize The Theopolis Institute is pleased to announce the third round of the James B. Jordan Prize to honor outstanding doctoral dissertations in biblical theology. James Jordan is one of the most insightful biblical scholars of our time. The Jordan Prize exists to encourage more of the deep Scriptural…

by Peter LeithartFebruary 27, 2023
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Sex

So What If Gender is a Social Construct?

“Gender is a social construct,” the transgender apologists tell us, thinking with that single stroke they’ve negated gender roles; that they’ve relegated them to the optional, like what kind of cuisine you prefer. Sure, you may be born Italian but that doesn’t mean you’re now bound, by the expectations of…

by John CarpenterFebruary 21, 2023

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Augustinian Optimism and Modern Science

P eter Harrison points out in his The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science (10–11) that the Reformation coincided with the rediscovery of ancient skepticism. While the Reformers were undermining traditional Catholic sources of authority from one side, Montaigne and others were corroding certainty from the other. Descartes…

December 12, 2016

Apocalypse Preserved

Karl Shuve's contribution to Apocalypses in Context traces the Christian use of Jewish apocalyptic, especially of the Book of the Watchers from 1 Enoch, which even makes it into the universal canon of the New Testament (Jude). The Watcher story appears in Justin, who “blames ‘every evil' on the Watcher…

December 9, 2016

Constructing Modernity

Thomas Fabisiak wonders, What does the New Jerusalem have to do with modernity? ( Apocalypses in Context ). Ask most modern philosophers, and the answer will be, Not much. Fabisiak speaks of the “'rhetorical construction' of modernity” that takes the form of a dismissal or expulsion of apocalyptic and all…

December 9, 2016

Chess and Soviet Man

In a 2011 New Yorker profile of Norwegian chess champion Magnus Carlsen, D.T. Max digresses to explain the logic behind the Soviet interest in chess: “Lenin, an enthusiastic player, made the game a priority for the new nation. In 1920, Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky, a commissar of Soviet chess, wrote that chess,…

December 9, 2016

Erotics of Reading

In the middle stanzas of “Erotikos Logos,” watching someone else reading, Scott Cairns ( Slow Pilgrim , 278) writes, “So much, of course, depends upon your own willingness to find something worthy here, even as you bring - as you must - something worthy to the effort. So much of…

December 9, 2016

From Polemic to Propaganda

Andrew Pettegree ( Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion ) observes a shift in rhetorical tone in Protestant-Catholic debates between the early and mid sixteenth century: “While much of the polemical writing of Luther’s day was rumbustious in tone, making liberal use of ridicule and ad hominem attacks, it still…

December 9, 2016

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