Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
A Study in Biblical and Practical Theology Sunday School Notes / Epiphany 2004 Introductory Note: January 6 is Epiphany in the traditional church calendar. Though Epiphany is often treated as a single day, with the Sundays following counted as “Sundays after Epiphany,” we will treat Epiphany as an extended season.…
Imagine someone from another world trying to learn to live in our society according to our customs. What if someone gave him a check for a hundred dollars for his birthday–the first check he had ever seen in his life? Would he immediately understand how a check was used? Perhaps…
According to Presbyterian doctrine, as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith, baptism is a baptized person’s “admission… into the visible church.” By referring to the “visible church,” the document makes clear it is referring to the present institutional Church with all her imperfections, as opposed to the future Church…
N. T. Wright claims that in the Apostle Paul’s writings “righteousness,” as it predicated of humans, denotes “covenant membership.” When he wrote this in the New Bible Dictionary edited by Sinclair Ferguson, J. I. Packer, and David Wright, no one thought this was too big a deal. However, when he…
It seems almost human nature to think that we can find something to do for God that will make Him do us favors. If we live more virtuously, or cut down on a vice or two, then God will have to reward us. But the problem with this notion is…
The First Commandment teaches us to trust in Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. The First Commandment reads (I’m using NASB throughout): “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Obviously, trusting in someone or something else (even one’s own good works) for justification, sanctification, and eternal life”…
Showing page 226 of 309
Showing page 5 of 43
“T he whole of religion is contained in the Sacraments,” Feuerbach says at the beginning of The Essence of Christianity . That is, “there are . . . no other religious acts than those which are performed in Baptism and the Lord's Supper.” This being so, Feuerbach claims that “the…
Laurent Fleury's Sociology of Culture and Cultural Practices is “underpinned” by a conviction that runs counter to the consensus of sociology, especially among those influenced by Pierre Bourdieu. Fleury's conviction is that “there are no simple, univocal links between attitudes developed in childhood and choices, preferences, and practices deployed in…
MD Goulder ( Type and History in Acts ) summarizes the complaints against Luke's history of the early church in Acts: “No student can read Acts without dissatisfaction: he would not have written it thus. Why does it end where it ends? Why is so much space devoted to the…
Nietzche ( AntiChrist ) claims that German philosophy is descended from German theology. Kant's victory is a theological one. Nietzsche's own position, though, is equally theological, a different one. But not that different, because like Kant he's a low church Protestant attacking decadent priestly religion. The priest (section 26) is…
John hears several voices as he sees new Jerusalem descend from heaven like a bride. He hears a loud voice “out of the throne” announcing, in third person, that God has pitched His tent among men (Revelation 21:3-4). Then the one seated on the throne speaks: “Behold new I make…
Francis's I's pastoral exhortation on family life, A moris laetitia , will inevitably, and rightly, be the subject of scrutiny by Catholic theologians and canon lawyers. A great deal is at stake. But it's also important to note, as even hostile commentators have, that the controversial passages are set within…
Showing page 298 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
