Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Where do we go from here? Depending on one’s perspective, the American story can plausibly be interpreted in different ways. Looked at from past to present , we can see a great deal of continuity from medieval Christendom and the Reformation to America’s founding. The War for Independence, after all,…
Click HERE for Part 1 Civic Religion: American or Christian? We have already traced out the basic contours of the shift in America from an ecclesiocentric, theocratic social order to a secular one. Building on Locke and Hobbes, the Enlightenment accomplished an astonishing coup of Christendom. That victory for the…
Author’s Introductory Note: Engaging in broad historical interpretation as I am about to do is always risky. Necessarily, one “stylizes” history by simplifying, over generalizing, and stereotyping. But the narrative qualities of history are not simply due to the imposition of human rationality upon brute facts; rather history is always…
A. Repentance to life involves endeavoring to believe real hard that you’re saved. reject infant baptism. stop watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. walk with God in all the ways of his commandments. B. What is necessary so that no sinner may expect to be forgiven unless he does it? Only…
The machine works mechanically and it is flawless. Slander/libel a group of Presbyterian ministers as “Romanist” because robes and James 2 are no worse than praying to Mary or relying on purgatory to pay for unconfessed sins. Drive off anyone who disagrees. Of that number, there may be a tiny…
If we take as a starting point the Tribal / Monarchical / Empire model, we can then add to it the Late Empire Phase. The particular ‘marker sin’ of Empire is false intermarriage, which signifies pluralism and syncretism. Empires by definition are “cosmopolitan” dominated by cities, high culture, many cultures,…
Showing page 212 of 309
Showing page 1 of 43
What is Paul trying to prove in Romans 1:18-3:20? Here are a few, non-exhaustive, suggestions: 1) He is trying to close “every mouth” and demonstrate that “all the world” is “accountable to God,” and guilty before Him. It is sometimes said in recent Pauline scholarship that this is not a…
This morning, NPR had a report on “Celebrants USA,” an organization of “Professional celebrants” that designs and officiates at ceremonies of all kinds. The report was about ceremonies of “downsizing,” held when someone loses his or her job because of cuts in the size of a company’s workforce. Celebrants USA’s…
A potpourri of interesting reviews in Books & Culture : 1) Gerald McDermott reviews several recent evangelical books on Christianity’s relation to non-Christian religions. He is critical of attempts (Paul Heim, e.g.) to root a pluralist or inclusivist view of other religions in the doctrine of the Trinity, and also…
At a number of points in his book, Dollimore explores the “eroticization” of death, the tendency of Western writers (and visual artists) not only to describe death as a desirable erasure of desire (or desirable for some other reason) but also to describe death in quasi-erotic terms. This is seen…
Dollimore has some thoughtful things to say about postmodernism, especially in relation to Lacan: “what I find in Lacan is an overtheorized expression of something more significantly and relevantly expressed elsewhere (in Freud and before).” (He cites specifically Schopenhauer and Montaigne.) “In this respect I believe he is symptomatic of…
A somewhat more expanded treatment of the chiasm of Luke 3-7. Jesus’ baptism and temptation still don’t fit well, but the rest hangs together pretty nicely. Some comments are appended below. A. John the Baptist’s ministry, 3:1-20 B. Jesus’ baptism, genealogy, temptation, 3:21-4:13 C. Jesus at Nazareth, 4:14-30 Isaiah 61…
Showing page 2144 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
