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Matthew

What Tune is Playing? (Matthew 11:1-19)

Matthew’s gospel is a replay of Israel’s history, and this replay occurs at two different levels. On the one hand, Jesus relives Israel’s history and does it faithfully. He is the Son, the true Israel, called out of Egypt, baptized in the sea, tempted in the wilderness. He is the…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 14, 2014
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Theopolis News

Constantine, Christendom, Christian Renewal

Trinity House President Peter Leithart will deliver two lectures at the Eighth Day Institute annual conference in Wichita, Kansas, January 16-18. The conference theme is "Constantine, Christendom, and Christian Renewal," and Dr. Leithart will be lecturing on Constantine. Dr. Leithart will preach on Sunday, January 19, at Trinity Covenant Church…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 13, 2014
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Matthew

Treasures in Matthew's Genealogy, 2

In the previous article, we considered the life of Abraham up to the birth of Isaac and the way in which his life up to that point foreshadows later redemptive history. Our reason for this consideration was at the Gospel of Matthew's behest. He pointed us in that direction. He…

by Kelly KerrJanuary 9, 2014
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Theology

The Trinity and the Nations, 3

The Spirit of Speech The last period in Israel’s history arrives almost from nowhere. The prophets appear unannounced, give short, but earth-shattering messages and then are whisked away by the Spirit (1 Kings 18:12). They do not hold high positions in Israel, but their words give them great political sway.…

by Brian MarrJanuary 7, 2014
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Theopolis News

Nevin Lectures

Trinity House Institute is delighted to announce our first annual series of Nevin Lectures. Timothy George, Dean and Professor of Church History at Beeson Divinity School, will deliver four lectures on “Sacramental Theology from a Baptist Perspective” on February 7-8, 2014 at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. More information...…

by TheopolisJanuary 2, 2014
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Revelation

Him Whom They Pierced

Revelation 1: 7 states the theme of Revelation. It is a self-standing verse, beginning and ending with “Amen” (the “Amen” at the end of verse 6 should be taken as the beginning of the statement in verse 7). A double Amen as a double witness, and it becomes a threefold…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 1, 2014

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History

Infallible Constantine?

The epigram to chapter 11 of Charles Freeman’s Closing of the Western Mind is from a letter of Constantine to the churches in Alexandria: “We have received from Divine Providence the supreme favor of being relieved of all error.” The footnote leads to Ramsay Macmullen’s Christianity and Paganism in the…

February 23, 2009

China

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton disappointed human rights activists by degrading the role of human rights issues in her discussions with Chinese. Differences on human rights will not, she said, interfere with the common interests of the US and China. Today, she commends the Chinese for bailing out the US by continuing…

February 22, 2009
History

Barbarians

Momigliano again, pointing out that the church had ways of dealing with the barbarian threat that were not available to pagans: “The educated pagan was by definition afraid of barbarians. There was no bridge between the aristocratic ideals of a pagan and the primitive violence of the German invader.” At…

February 21, 2009
History

Follow the money

Not not did the church draw the best men, men who otherwise would have been, Momigliano says, “generals, governors or provinces, advisers to the emperors,” but it drew popular enthusiasm and loyalty, and money: “Money which would have gone to the building of a theatre or of an aqueduct now…

February 21, 2009
History

Ecclesial aristocracy

Arnaldo Momigliano suggests that one of the key ways that Christianity contributed to the decline of Rome was by siphoning off the best and brightest to the church. The “central feature of the fourth century” was “the emergence of the Church as an organization competing with the State itself and…

February 21, 2009
History

Idolatry in the light

Constantine’s legislation in the Theodosian Code includes several odd decrees that prohibit soothsayers and other magicians from “crossing the threshold” of a house under the pretext of friendship. Private soothsaying is prohibited. At the same time, Constantine says that soothsayers will be consulted if lightning strikes the palace, and also…

February 21, 2009

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