Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Integrity seems to have two meanings. It can mean the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. A man of integrity is a person of honour, rectitude and probity, truthful and trustworthy. Integrity also describes a state – the quality of being whole and undivided. If things are…
Get the Psalm 32 Translation here Psalm 32 is the first part of Ps. 32-33, ending with a call to praise that is answered by what follows. Ultimately the psalm needs to be considered as a whole, but what we call Psalm 32 does have its own structure and logic,…
You wouldn’t hit a man with glasses would ya? No, of course not. I’d hit him with a bat. In our culture of frivolity it is tempting for Christians to think that solemnity should be our defining attribute. The coarseness of the world impedes us from enjoying any sort of…
Taking a cue in my last post from early Christian apologetics, I suggested that if we wish to articulate and defend a doctrine of creation ex nihilo in contemporary theology, we would do well to offer a thick description of Yahweh’s divine monarchia (his sole rule or sovereignty). Rather than…
I’m not sure we really understand the insidiousness of unbelief. It is not merely to reject the gospel of Jesus, the existence of a Creator God, or to question biblical morality. At its core, unbelief is ingratitude, and by the very nature of this ingratitude, it must ultimately reject every…
Mark’s narrative of the baptism of Jesus is characteristically brief: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him…
Showing page 158 of 309
Showing page 6 of 43
During the night before Jacob returns from his sojourn with Laban in Haran, a man confronts him and they wrestle (Genesis 32). Jacob refuses to let the man go and the man touches him in the yerekh - usually translated as “socket of his thigh.” He returns to the land,…
Robert Wuthnow points out ( Boundless Faith , 115-6) that improvements in technology enabled leaders to transcend denominational boundaries: “Communication and travel increased the opportunities to organize transnational ministries in new ways, just as philanthropy and fund-raising techniques did. The earlier denominational boards depended on corresponding secretaries to stay in…
I n an essay in Judgment & Grace in Dixie , Charles Wilson Reagan traces the evolution of Southern civil religion from 1920 to 1980. He argues that over the decades the civil religion of the lost cause “evolved from a public faith celebrating the virtues of a religiously sanctioned…
The ten horns join with the beast in slaughtering the harlot city Babylon. It's a macabre scene, marked by five relentless verbs - hate, desolate, make naked, eat, burn - and by a bizarre sequence of actions. It's a sacrificial sequence. An ascension offering (Leviticus 1) was prepared for offering…
N ancy Ammerman's contribution to Denominationalism is outstanding. She asks what we're studying when we study denominations, and she comes up with three answers: A group of Christian communities defined by a common set of beliefs and practices; an organization; and a cultural profile (evident, for instance, in Episcopalian jokes).…
Nancy Ammerman briefly examines the “shifting terrain” at the close of her essay in Denominationalism . Choice seems to have taken over the religious landscape, displacing ethnic associations, family and upbringing. Many change denominations during their lifetimes; fewer think it important to marry within their denominations. Congregations function independently of…
Showing page 407 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
