Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Why there is more to Jephthah than meets than eye It was not that long ago that I realized the Jephthah-story and the Jesus-story were basically the same story. Sounds crazy, I know. But here is a one-paragraph synopsis of both: The people of God have gone their own way,…
G.K. Chesterton famously said that the Gospels don’t reveal Jesus’ mirth. It’s true we never catch Jesus laughing. But can we believe He never did? I don’t think so. Laughter is human, and Jesus was fully human. Jesus promised that those who mourned would laugh. He mourned; would He not…
Matthew 2 has all the elements of an exodus story. There’s a murderous king, who slaughters Jewish babies. There’s a infant who will be Israel’s future deliverer, saved from the murderous king so He can later return to save His people and lead them to the Promised land. There’s an…
The calendar of Israel was primarily theological, centered on commemorating the salvific acts of God, but also agricultural, celebrating the creation-restoring effects of those salvific acts. The feasts of the first month celebrated the reviving of the world in the Spring, and typified the cutting off of the Savior in…
The chiastic shape corresponds to the shape of human life. This should not surprise us, because we are made in the image of God, and God is manifest in Word and Spirit. If we are living epistles, our lives will look a bit like the literary shape of the books…
Back in January, Venkatesh Rao wrote a fascinating post on the Ribbonfarm blog, discussing different forms of models of narrative. Engaging with Ursula LeGuin’s talk ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ , Rao explores her contrast between the (male) ‘hero narrative’ and the (female) ‘carrier-bag story’, and suggests a third…
Showing page 83 of 309
Showing page 5 of 43
When John first enters heaven, no altar is visible. He sees an altar for the first time when the fifth seal is broken, and at that point his attention is directed to the base of the altar, where the martyred saints have shed their blood (6:9). The next time we…
Richard Beck points out in Unclean that disgust is “promiscuous”: It “has a degree of plasticity; it is molded to fit a given culture.” In this, disgust differs from other emotions: “The core triggers for happiness, fear, sadness, or anger appear to be fairly stable and consistent across cultures. But…
Ernest Becker wrote: “Excreting is the curse that threatens madness because it shows man in his abject finitude, his physicalness, the likely unreality of his hopes and dreams. But even more immediately, it represents man’s utter bafflement at the sheer non-sense of creation: to fashion the sublime miracle of the…
The worship of the beast in Revelation 13 takes the form of an acclamation of His uniqueness. “Who is like the beast?” they cry. This has several layers of significance. This acclamation echoes the acclamation of Israel in the song of Moses: “Who is like You among the gods, O…
The beast of Revelation 13 initiates a double attack against the saints: first blasphemy, then he “makes war” on them (vv. 6-7). The blasphemies are against God, but they are directed also at the name of God, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven (v. 6). The dragon has…
Polybius wrote, “when a man who has been helped when in danger by another does not show gratitude to his preserver, but even goes to the length of attempting to do him injury, it is clear that those who become aware of it will naturally be displeased and offended by…
Showing page 507 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
