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

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Biblical Horizons

An Older Essay on the Gospel Order

I thought it might be good to put this up here, since it is 14 years old, and itself reflects earlier discussion. From this you can see that we at BH have been considering this notion for quite some time. Clearly, the last word has not been said. — James…

by James B. JordanFebruary 14, 2008
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Biblical Horizons

Chiasms in James

Hopefully, my commentary on James will be out later this year. But here are a few chiasms for your consideration. I think the James 5 chiasm orginally came from Doug Jordan. The entire book of James is focused on how the pastors and leaders (“brothers”) of the church use their…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 14, 2008
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Job

Parables | (Part 2)

In my first post I noted that the parables of Jesus were not simply illustrative stories. They are really nothing like the kind of simple, homely illustrations that preachers often use to explain difficult concepts to their congregations. Just to be clear: there’s nothing wrong with illustrating one’s sermonic statements.…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 14, 2008
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Ephesians

The Praise Precedes the Indicative

Ephesians is often treated as a pure type example of the Pauline method that “the indicative preceds the imperative.” But what Paul does first is pray . Simply reading verse 3 and following involves readers in a prayer of thanksgiving to God–and much more so for those listening to the…

by Mark HorneFebruary 14, 2008
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Luke

"I Came Not to Call the Righteous, but Sinners"

Yesterday, I took part with my oldest son in a church-sponsored city outreach project (not because I’m especially prone to such behavior but because my son has a Boy Scout requirement that this would help him meet). Before we were sent out on our various jobs, the leader gave a…

by Mark HorneFebruary 11, 2008
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Biblical Studies

The Sequence of the Four Gospels

There is a scene in Prince Caspian , the second in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia that helps explain why it is we have four Gospels, that is four accounts of the Good News of Jesus Christ—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is the account of Lucy’s longed-for experience…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 9, 2008

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EcclesiologyTheology

The Theopolitan Vision

The following is excerpted from The Theopolitan Vision, the first volume of The Theopolis Fundamentals Series, available from Athanasius Press . I’m going to call you Theo or Thea. “Theo” is the name we use at the Theopolis Institute to describe the kind of man who can most benefit from…

August 5, 2019
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Trinitarian Ontology

In a 2014 essay in Theological Research , Giulio Maspero compares the “ontology of the First Principle” in classical Greek metaphysics and in Trinitarian theology. Both traditions link “being” with life, but Trinitarian theology deepens the connection by making “relation” essential to the “First Principle” in a way that ultimately…

July 29, 2019

Homosexuality in the Church

The church faces two major challenges to traditional understandings of biblical sexuality. First, many churches are in the middle of all-out war over basics of Christian sexual morality, especially homosexuality. Revisionists re-read Scripture and conveniently discover that the Bible doesn’t really condemn homosexual acts; or if it does, it’s because…

July 22, 2019

Welcome

As you can see, we've updated and upgraded our web site. For the first time in a long time, we've got a place where you can explore all things Theopolis. Our web articles are here, including Conversations, Theopolis blog articles, and thousands of my old blog posts. All our podcast…

July 18, 2019
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Holy City

An old Biblical Horizons essay, first published in 1993 . Calling Jerusalem the "holy city" comes so naturally to Christians that it comes as something of a surprise to realize how infrequently the phrase is used in Scripture. Not only is Jerusalem rarely called holy, but in the Old Testament…

July 3, 2019
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Alienated America

The past few years have seen a lot of analyses of what’s wrong with America. Few are more insightful or satisfying than Timothy Carney’s Alienated America , published earlier this year. An editor of the conservative Washington Examiner and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Carney sets out to…

June 26, 2019

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In Medias Res

Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.

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