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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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Context, context

Reader Chris Jones rebuked me, rightly, for putting up Dana Milbank’s version of an Obama quote and accusing him of a Messiah complex. Here’s a fuller version of the quotation, which makes it clear that Obama was actually saying the enthusiasm was about America’s importance and not his own: “It…

July 31, 2008

HBC

Alvin Plantinga has great fun skewering HBC - “historical biblical criticism” - in an essay in Behind the Text . He notes that critics lament that Christians go on as if HBC never happened, and asks if the advocates of HBC have given Christians reason to do otherwise. He concludes…

July 30, 2008

Messiah complex

Dana Milbank reports that Obama told a House delegation yesterday: “This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for,” adding: “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.” Yes, indeed, a return to American tradition, particularly the American tradition…

July 30, 2008
History

Latitude Men

Rivers (volume 1 of Reason, Grace, and Sentiment ) gives a sympathetic portrayal of the post-Restoration latitudinarians. She cites Gilbert Burnet’s history several times. According to Burnet, the latitude-men “and those who were formed under them, studied to examine farther into the nature of things than had been done formerly.…

July 29, 2008

Berkeley on Priests

In Berkeley, the freethinkers had an opponent at least as smart and witty. In an essay in the Guardian , Berkeley’s character, Ulysses Cosmopolita sees a vision: “I saw a great castle with a fortification cast round it, and a tower adjoining to it that through the windows appeared to…

July 29, 2008
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Freethinkers and Priests

Isabel Rivers (Volume 2 of Reason, Grace, and Sentiment ) has a superb summary of the freethinkers’ account of the corruption of religion. In its origins, religion was “plain, easy, true” and was rooted in and expressed “nature.” But this was diverted “by priests, who, motivated by greed and playing…

July 29, 2008

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