Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Integrity seems to have two meanings. It can mean the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. A man of integrity is a person of honour, rectitude and probity, truthful and trustworthy. Integrity also describes a state – the quality of being whole and undivided. If things are…
Get the Psalm 32 Translation here Psalm 32 is the first part of Ps. 32-33, ending with a call to praise that is answered by what follows. Ultimately the psalm needs to be considered as a whole, but what we call Psalm 32 does have its own structure and logic,…
You wouldn’t hit a man with glasses would ya? No, of course not. I’d hit him with a bat. In our culture of frivolity it is tempting for Christians to think that solemnity should be our defining attribute. The coarseness of the world impedes us from enjoying any sort of…
Taking a cue in my last post from early Christian apologetics, I suggested that if we wish to articulate and defend a doctrine of creation ex nihilo in contemporary theology, we would do well to offer a thick description of Yahweh’s divine monarchia (his sole rule or sovereignty). Rather than…
I’m not sure we really understand the insidiousness of unbelief. It is not merely to reject the gospel of Jesus, the existence of a Creator God, or to question biblical morality. At its core, unbelief is ingratitude, and by the very nature of this ingratitude, it must ultimately reject every…
Mark’s narrative of the baptism of Jesus is characteristically brief: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him…
Showing page 158 of 309
Showing page 1 of 43
John Gray begins his Enlightenment’s Wake with a breathtaking dismissal of neo-liberal political philosophy (the chapter is “Against the new liberalism”). I found it thrilling, and not just because I have a weakness for titles that begin with “Against.” A few highlights: “It is arguable that the traditional of liberal…
In the introduction to his 2005 book, Cities of God , Augustine Thompson complains that medievalists have paid too little attention to the religious lives of orthodox laymen: “Heretics, popes, theologians, Franciscans, and saints. Where is everyone else?” His book studies the communes of medieval Italian cities partly to redress…
Reacting to my earlier post on the week of John 1-2, John Barach offers a (needed) lesson in counting: It seems to me that the wedding at Cana has to be taken as the eighth day for two reasons. First, the parallels with the seven days of creation make it…
A friend and former student, Aaron Cummings. offers more thoughts on the lot-scapegoat connection: 1) Saul cast lots for Jonathan when we he sinned. Saul sinfully saw Jonathan as a new Achan, a man whose sin affected the congregation. Saul like Joshua uses lots to root out the sin. 2)…
Cities dominated by commerce are offensive to many today, but historically a city of commerce is a city of peace, a city that has escaped the domination of military elites and interest. Weber wrote: “While in Antiquity the hoplite army and its training and military interests moved to the center…
Power and gift seem to be opposed to each other, but Milbank argues that true rule is always donative, always a gift of ruling. This is partly a matter of power-sharing, and obvious once the point is made: A ruler who does not share rule is, by definition, a tyrant;…
Showing page 1433 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
