Theopolis Logo

Writing

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

See all
screen-shot-2020-03-05-at-9-05-54-am
Family

Childbearing as Liminal Space

Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (1 Timothy 2:15) Years ago, the wife of a prominent American theologian recognized that even in Christian circles mothers were under a kind of social pressure to justify the worthwhileness of their…

by Garrett SoucyMarch 24, 2020
pablo-merchan-montes-wyopqmtdd0w-unsplash
Motherhood

Parenting through Coronavirus

I caught my five year old washing his hands again. He had already washed them several times that hour, so I asked him if he was okay. He told me he didn’t want to get “the virus”. That was before I had told him anything about coronavirus, but we did…

by Lindsey TollefsonMarch 20, 2020
arturo-castaneyra-tpe60ik97qw-unsplash
Discipleship

Take a Walk

Very early in life, I developed the habit of walking and thinking and meditating. I came from a rather strict home, and the only way I could get out of the house at night was to walk the dog. So, I did. I would walk the dog for miles and…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 17, 2020
litany-1669-1
Coronavirus

Disease, Deprecations, and Deliverance in an Age of Safe Spaces | Reflections from a University President

From lightning and tempest; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death, Good Lord, deliver us. The Fourth Deprecation from Thomas Cranmer's 1544 Litany 1 A deprecation, such as that above, is a prayer to be spared from disaster, its Latin root deprecari meaning to…

by Alexander WhitakerMarch 16, 2020
lukasz-lada-q7z-aulhpaw-unsplash
Biblical Studies

The Son of Man in the Clouds | Part 2

In the previous essay in this series, we saw that Jesus’ words about coming on the clouds were spoken on more than one occasion, first to the disciples on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:30; Mark 11:36; Luke 21:27), then, a few days later, to the high priest and Jewish…

by Ralph Allan SmithMarch 10, 2020
screen-shot-2020-03-05-at-9-05-54-am
Epistemology

Voice and God’s Relational Biology

The following is excerpted from an essay first published at Church Life Journal . We are grateful to the editors for permission to repost here. The word “science” at its root means “to know” and the word “theology” at its root means “to think about God.” Can we know anything…

by Kristin M. Collier MDMarch 5, 2020

Showing page 69 of 309

See all

Showing page 6 of 43

See all

Conference

If you’re in the vicinity of Duke, you might be interested in a conference sponsored by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, in cooperation with the Duke Divinity School, on May 21-23, at Duke. The theme is “Preaching, Teaching, and Living the Bible.” Speakers include Robert Jenson, Rusty Reno,…

March 30, 2006
Literature

Garber on Merchant

Marjorie Garber has, as usual, some insightful things to say about Merchant of Venice: 1) She describes the play as “Shakespeare’s great play about difference,” pointing to the apparent stark contrasts of Christian and Jew, Venice and Belmont, male and female. Yet, she also notes that the play is busy…

March 29, 2006
Literature

Biblical echoes in Merchant of Venice

A.R. Braunmuller offers some suggestive comments in his introduction to the Merchant of Venice in the Pelican Shakespeare. Having summarized Portia’s speech (which he suggests might be a “setup that turns on a technicality” that “turns back on Shylock a legal rigidity he had been duped into demanding”), he notes…

March 29, 2006

Hypostatic union

Thomas argues that “if the human nature is not united to God the Word in person, it is not united to him in any way, and thus belief in the incarnation is altogether done away with, which subverts the entire Christian faith.” But since there is a union, it must…

March 29, 2006

Aquinas and Chalcedon

Frederick Bauerschmidt claims that “Aquinas is in fact the first medieval theologian in the West to quote directly from the Council of Chalcedon.” This is remarkable on all sorts of levels, not least because of the questions it raises about the authority of the ecumenical councils in medieval thought.

March 29, 2006
Theology

Gift and Gratitude in the Middle Ages

INTRODUCTION Seneca’s de Beneficiis was known to the Christian Middle Ages, as were some of the gift and gratitude customs of the Roman world. We’ll examine the use that Aquinas makes of Seneca when we get to the Summa later this week. But in addition to these ancient sources, medieval…

March 28, 2006

Showing page 1865 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.