Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I live in an area where Mardi Gras is in full swing, and I can remember from my upbringing that Fat Tuesday was a last ditch effort at debauchery before the pseudo-spiritual practice of “giving something up for Lent” really began. In my youth I would give up some kind…
Part 1: Observations from the Texts (Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, Luke 5:33-39) The precipitating context for the new wine/old wineskins discussion is people asking Jesus why His disciples did not fast. His immediate answer is that you can’t get the friends of the groom to fast at the bachelor party…
Simply, “progress” means to move forward. In that sense, a slug can progress from one end of the sidewalk to the other. But for us in twenty-first century America, progress means something else. For us, it is almost a synonym for goodness. The slug can only “progress” if the other…
I have the privilege of being able to counsel a lot of women who are seeking abortions. I can tell you that the majority of them are seeking to end their pregnancies not because they feel like it would be a fun thing to do, but because they are scared…
Last night, along with a few online friends, I watched this debate on the meaning of life between William Lane Craig, Rebecca Goldstein, and Jordan Peterson, hosted by Wycliffe College. While watching it, and reflecting upon Peterson’s work more generally (about which I’ve written in the past ), I was…
I’m glad to have been invited to contribute regularly to the Theopolis Institute website. Thank you, readers, for welcoming and joining what I hope will be a venture of integration. Integration itself is what I want to explore. And for me personally, this is the shape of my current integrative…
Showing page 99 of 309
Showing page 9 of 43
Is identical repetition possible? It would seem not. Sequence A (say, a musical theme) is repeated as sequence A’. The same notes are played. Is it identical repetition? No, because A’ has the distinct quality of coming AFTER A, and therefore is modified by that temporal context. Every sequence is…
1 Kings 3:15 The story of Solomon?s request for and reception of wisdom is framed by references to worship. At the beginning of the story, Solomon is in Gibeon, worshiping at the bronze altar that Moses built in the wilderness, and then he ascends to the ark-shrine in Jerusalem, the…
Earlier this month, we celebrated the end of the first year of our existence as Trinity Reformed Church. This occasion gives us reason to pause to reminder ourselves what we hope to do as a local congregation. Since we started Trinity, the elders have been laying out a number of…
There’s a fairly neat chiasm in the first part of Rom 7: a. law rules while one lives b. woman bound while husband lives; if husband dies, freed (KATARGEO) c. while husband lives: adulteress d. if husband dies: joined to another without adultery e. you died through Christ, through body…
Eyes, Jim Jordan constantly points out, are organs of judgment. God “sees” the light and judges it good, and His eyes are open to judge the righteous and the wicked (Ps 11). 1 Kings 3, however, seems to make some play with this. Solomon is asking for discernment and wisdom…
It seems that Solomon begins his reign with a breach of the law. Deuteronomy 7:3-4 forbids Israel from intermarrying with Gentiles, Canaanites in particular, and the usage in Deuteronomy 7 is very similar to that of 1 Kings 3:1. Solomon ?became son-in-law to Pharaoh,?Eand Deuteronomy 7 forbids the Israelites to…
Showing page 2059 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
