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Writing

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

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Protestantism

More Anti-Catholic Than Thou

The “second Reformation” introduced Reformed liturgy and teaching into Lutheran Germany. This was seen by some as a continuation of the Reformation and a purgation of Catholic remnants. The effort to carry on “further reformation” led to disputes with Lutherans. As Bodo Nischan has put it, the hottest debate in…

by Peter LeithartMarch 28, 2017
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Literature

Bilbo: A Reformation Hero?

In J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century , Tom Shippey observes that Bilbo is a member of the middle class, a bourgeois. Bilbo does not have any servants, but his hole is “the home of a member of the Victorian upper-middle class of Tolkien’s nineteenth-century youth, full of…

by Bogumil JarmulakMarch 23, 2017
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Isaiah

God In the Dock

Idolatry has deprived Israel of her senses. This was one of the early messages to Isaiah (Isaiah 6). Yahweh sent him out to a people who had been deprived of their senses because of their commitment to idols. They become like the idols they serve. They still have eyes, but…

by Peter LeithartMarch 21, 2017
jesus-baptism
Trinity

Triune Personhood

In the current climate of Trinitarian discussion concerning personhood, it's good to reach back to David Bentley Hart's treatment of the subject in his wonderful Beauty of the Infinite . Hart addresses the dangers of misreading Rahner’s rule, namely, the danger of dissolving the ontological Trinity into the economic. In…

by Peter LeithartMarch 16, 2017
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Certificate Program

Chris Kou Completes the Certificate Program

Chris Kou is the oldest son of Chinese immigrants. Chris and his brothers run a branding and marketing business, Imagineering, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. In his spare time, he takes online courses from Reformed Theological Seminary, and aspires to be a pastor. Chris is also one of our…

by Peter LeithartMarch 15, 2017
church-monet
Architecture

House of Living Stones

The following was delivered as the Solemn Charge and Exhortation to Theopolis students beginning the Easter term course on Architecture and Liturgical Space . As we will be reminded repeatedly throughout the week, the Bible has a lot to say about building and buildings. Long stretches of Exodus, Kings, Chronicles,…

by Peter LeithartMarch 14, 2017

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Coffer of the Covenant

SR Hirsch has some characteristically stimulating comments about the description of the ark of the covenant in Exodus 25. 1) He points out that the phrasing at the beginning of the ark section (25:10) is different from the opening syntax for the other furnishings of the tabernacle. Instead of addressing…

October 26, 2007

Trinitarian justice?

For Aquinas, the ideal situation of justice is a situation of equality. Only when the persons acting toward each other are equal is there “justice without qualification.” For an act to be an act of justice per se , it’s necessary that the persons be “absolutely other” and “absolutely distinct,”…

October 25, 2007

Moltmann, II

Richard Bauckham has written two books on Moltmann, and he summarizes his findings in a general article on Moltmann in David Ford, ed., The Modern Theologians . He first traces the development of Moltmann’s work, from the early trilogy (Theology of Hope, The Crucified God, The Church in the Power…

October 23, 2007

Moltmann

In his book on the Trinity, Veli-Matti Karkkainen gives a superb detailed summary of Moltmann, and offers some pointed, even devastating, criticisms. Moltmann puts the cross as the center of his understanding of God: “the cross of the Son stands from eternity in the centre of the Trinity.” Another guiding…

October 23, 2007

In defense of Augustine

One of the main critics of contemporary interpretations of Augustine has been Michel Rene Barnes of Marquette. He summarizes the case against Augustine, and the fundamental problems with that case, in a 1995 article from Theological Studies. I am also drawing on the discussion of Lewis Ayres’s recent Nicaea and…

October 23, 2007
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1 & 2 Kings

Uriah Y Kim reviews my Kings commentary in a recent issue of Reviews in Religion and Theology . He’s got some criticisms, but overall it’s a fair review. A couple of responses on specific points: 1) He thinks my contention that there is a “seventh-king” pattern is suspect; my counting…

October 22, 2007

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