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Writing

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

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Apostasy

Regeneration and Lettuce

My good friend, Jason Ewert, recently posted a review of Pastor Douglas Wilson’s book, Against the Church . Jason correctly notes that Pastor Wilson’s main pastoral motivation in writing this book is to combat dead orthodoxy. Dead orthodoxy is a real problem in Reformed churches that celebrate the primacy of…

by Garry VanderveenJuly 31, 2014
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Eucharist

Jesus Eats First

At the church I pastor, we have four servers who distribute the communion elements to the congregation, and I distribute the elements to those in the foyer and nursery. The servers and I do not partake of the bread and wine until the congregation is served first. As this has…

by Burke ShadeJuly 28, 2014
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Theopolis News

Church of the Present, Pastors of the Future

We at Trinity House believe that the church ought to raise and train her future pastors. Part of that training may be carried out by specialized institutions like Trinity House, but the church and her leaders are ultimately responsible for that training. To encourage churches to assume that responsibility, Trinity…

by Peter LeithartJuly 23, 2014
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Exodus

Mutilated Bodies

Sandra Jacobs's ​The Body as Property examines the role of physical disfigurement in the Hebrew Bible, with focus on the Torah, and more specifically on the (fictitious) Priestly document, P. After an introduction laying out a rationale for the comparative method that guides her research, she explores circumcision, the use…

by Peter LeithartJuly 23, 2014
Isaiah

Saving Judah

Yahweh saves. That’s what Isaiah’s name means, and that’s what Isaiah’s prophecy is about. Yah saves Judah when Aram and Israel pressure her. He saves Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege. He brings Judah back from the grave of Babylonian exile. But this triumphant message of Isaiah fizzles. The last few…

by Peter LeithartJuly 21, 2014
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Apostasy

Apostasy and Assurance

Are apostasy and assurance mutually exclusive? Some seem to think so. But let’s consider this a bit: No Reformed man would ever say that a man who is “saved” today will be safe forever no matter what . Rather we say, “your sins are forgiven, now, walk faithfully, glorify the…

by Steve WilkinsJuly 16, 2014

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Literature

Novels and social reform

Many early novelists aimed at social reform. Were they successful? According to a 1870 reviewer of J.E. Austen-Leigh’s Memoir of Jane Austen , they were: “it is the increase of knowledge among the wealthier classes which has stimulated their sympathies for the the poorer, and, in the course of the…

April 3, 2007

Sermon Notes, Easter Sunday

INTRODUCTION Twice in Acts, an apostle uses Psalm 16 as a proof text for the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2:25-28; 13:35). Psalm 16 is an Easter Psalm. THE TEXT “Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You. I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have…

April 2, 2007

Eucharistic meditation, Palm Sunday

Matthew 26:30: And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus and His disciples ended the last supper with a hymn. What did they sing? The texts in the gospels don’t tell us, but we can surmise from Jewish tradition that they sang the hymn…

April 1, 2007

Baptismal exhortation, Palm Sunday

I read from Psalm 118:17: I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the LORD. The LORD has disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death. From the time of Augustine, Christians have read the Psalms as the words of Christ. In…

April 1, 2007

Exhortation, Palm Sunday

The crowds greet Jesus as He arrives in Jerusalem singing from Psalm 118: “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” That’s also one of the phrases we commonly use in our liturgy. Many versions of the Sanctus, the “Holy, holy, holy,” conclude…

April 1, 2007
History

Converted Jerusalem Revisited

A number of readers have been skeptical about my earlier post on converted Jerusalem. Several have noted that Rodney Stark’s population statistics for Jerusalem don’t fit well with information we get from Josephus, who claims that the population of Jerusalem was much larger than 20,000. In a 1982 article from…

April 1, 2007

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