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

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Pastoral Ministry

The Story of Pastor Tom Clark

Several months ago, I wrote a First Things essay on the life and ministry of Pastor Tom Clark of Tri-City Covenant Church in Somersworth, New Hampshire. Tom died shortly after that essay appeared, but during his last days we were able to spend a couple of days listening to Tom's…

by Peter LeithartDecember 16, 2014
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Advent

A Faustian Christmas

Scene 1 Mr Faust sitting in a big chair, with Little Faust on his lap, reading. Mrs Faust sitting in another chair, knitting or something. Mr Faust : And I heard him exclaim As he drove out of sight Merry Christmas to all And to all a good night. (Closing…

by TheopolisDecember 16, 2014
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American Politics

Sleeping at Gethsemane

Sadly, most Christians in the United States, when it comes to recognizing the dangers to their civil and religious liberties, sleep the sleep of ignorance that the disciples slept at Gethsemane before the arrest of Jesus. It ought to be obvious by now how “sexual orientation” laws and “gay marriage”…

by Robert GagnonDecember 16, 2014
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Creation

Maker of Heaven and Earth

From an early period in church history, Christians have confessed belief in a God who created “out of nothing.” God doesn’t need pre-existent matter to work with like a human artisan does; rather, God both calls into existence the material substrate he intends to work with, and he fashions whatever…

by Stephen LongDecember 11, 2014
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Leviticus

Learning to Love Leviticus

January 1 is the start date for a New Year's resolution. December is the month to start making plans for those resolutions. Perhaps the most common resolution Christians make is to read through the Bible in a year. But that resolution runs into a big challenge near the outset: Leviticus.…

by John BarachDecember 9, 2014
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Theopolis News

Theopolis Accredited by National Financial Accountability Organization

BIRMINGHAM, AL – The ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) announced today the accreditation of Theopolis Institute of Birmingham, AL. ECFA accreditation is based on the ECFA Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship™ , including financial accountability, transparency, sound board governance and ethical fundraising. Theopolis Institute joins a growing number of…

by TheopolisDecember 4, 2014

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New Hearts

Ezekiel is the only OT writer to promise a “new heart” to Israel (18:31; 36:26).  He promises hearts of flesh in place of hearts of stone.  What has given the people of Judah hearts of flesh in the first place? Ezekiel 14:1-7 gives an answer: They have set (stone -…

November 14, 2009
American Religion

Mainline’s revenge

Near the end of his recent Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults , Christian Smith summarizes the argument of a 1995 article by N. Jay Demerath of the University of Massachusetts.  Demerath writes, that the widely reported decline of liberal Protestantism may in fact signal…

November 14, 2009

“Dependent” God

Athanasius appeals to the baptismal formula to show that the Son must be Creator: If he re-creates in baptism along with the Father, He must have created from the beginning.  But this raises the question, Is the Father insufficient in Himself?  Athanasius, strikingly, does not answer by appealing to the…

November 13, 2009

Sword or Cross?

Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow Me,” which is to say, “Be willing to die with me.”  Instead the disciples flee. But it gets worse.  The word “sword” is used six times in Matthew 26:47-56, three times in verse 52 alone.  (Otherwise, Matthew uses the word only once,…

November 13, 2009
Theology

Hegel, Catholicity, or Death

John Milbank throws down a challenging gauntlet to Protestants in the Afterword to The Radical Orthodoxy Reader .  He explains Radical Orthodoxy as a continuation of the attack on extrinicism launched by the nouvelle theologie .  Barth, he argues following the critiques of Przywara and Erik Peterson, “ignored both the…

November 12, 2009

Love of God, Love of World

Bonhoeffer shows how love of God and love for His creation can be reconciled by using a musical analogy: “God wants us to love him eternally with our whole hearts - not in such a way as to injure or weaken our earthly love, but to provide a kind of…

November 12, 2009

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