Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
This essay is adapted from my articles in Theopolis’s In Medias Res as a series of Holy Week meditations. Like many celebrities such as Kanye or Beyoncé or Adele, Josquin des Prez (d. 1521) was often known only by his first name, in his own time as now. “Josquin” is…
Sight is a major theme in the scriptures. The church has long identified sight’s relationship to the future fulfillment of the eschaton. As Paul says, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Cor 13.12). Sight is associated with…
What is the chief end of man? —yes, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But how ought man–and all creation–so glorify him? I propose a Theopolitan addition to the catechism, question and answer number 1.5, begun in the last question and answered as follows: Earth’s inhabitants were created to…
Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. Genesis 49:21 Frederick Buechner once said, “We move into the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” In poetry, this happens by way of a compressed code of analogs; often, two or more very ordinary things begin to reveal something that…
The evangelical milieu of America has often lost a vision of the fruit of repentance. We tend to simplify repentance by asking for forgiveness. After all, Jesus tells Peter to forgive 70 times 7. This verse must be paired with Paul’s scoffing at the question: why not sin more so…
I. The hemorrhaging woman. En route to Jairus’ house, Jesus is touched by a woman with a hemorrhage of blood (Matt 9:18–26; Mk 5:21–34; Lk 8:40–48). The story is one that many of us know very well. She has been yoked to her illness for twelve years, all of her…
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Maggie Jackson ( Distracted ) writes, “One yearlong study found that workers not only switch tasks every three minutes during their workday but that nearly half the time they interrupt themselves.” And this: “Nearly a third of fourteen- to twenty-one-year olds juggle five to eight media while doing homework.” I…
INTRODUCTION The Jewish leaders rejected John and Jesus, but this is nothing new. Jesus reminds them in parables that they have spent their entire history rejecting Yahweh’s servants and servants. THE TEXT “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it,…
Jesus’ parable of two brothers (Matthew 21:28-29) is puzzling on several levels. There is a major textual variant; the NKJV, following one tradition, puts the defiant-but-remorseful brother first and the NASB puts the compliant-but-disobedient brother first. We can address the textual question, I think, when we have figured out the…
Gothic architecture, Augustus Pugin argued, operated on the principles that “there should be no features about a building which are not necessary for convenience, construction, or propriety” and that “all ornament should consist of enrichment of the essential construction of the building.” Classical architecture, he thought, failed to achieve this,…
Christians, Tertullian argued, were perfectly willing to offer sacrifice on behalf of the emperor, but it had to be a specifically Christian sacrifice ( Ad Scapulam , ch 2): “A Christian is enemy to none, least of all to the Emperor of Rome, whom he knows to be appointed by…
Revelation 7 describes the sealing of the 144,000, and this number is broken up into 12,000 among 12 tribes. It is a repetitive passage, and the rhythm of tribes and numbers is reminiscent of the description of the offerings presented to the tabernacle by each tribe in Numbers 7. Both…
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