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Writing

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

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Books

Interpreting "The Man Who Was Thursday"

I just finished re-reading G. K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday . I have in the past had the temerity to say that I believe it to be the best novel of the 20th century. Be that as it may, I still maintain that it is at least one…

by Richard BledsoeJanuary 7, 2022
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Hebrews

The Universality of Mary’s Wound

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that thoughts out of many hearts may be…

by Garrett SoucyJanuary 4, 2022
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Music

An Argument for Heartier Hymnals

I was inspired to write this article after reading John Ahern’s The Case for Shorter Hymnals first published on Theopolis Institute’s website on November 16, 2021. Mr. Ahern and I are writing with different audiences and emphases in mind. I am thankful we both share a mutual desire to see…

by Jarrod RicheyDecember 30, 2021
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Biblical Studies

Image of God

If you’ve spent any time in the social-media galaxy of Christian cultural commentators, you have almost definitely run across the Latin phrase Imago Dei . It means image of God . Why they usually say it in Latin, I couldn’t tell you. We saw it in the wake of the…

by Daniel HoffmanDecember 28, 2021
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Advent

He Comes to Make His Blessings Known: "Son of David" and "Son of Abraham" in Matthew 1:1

The Gospel of Matthew—indeed, the New Testament—begins with a list of names, and that list of names is introduced by this heading: “The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Why start like this? Why “the son of David” and “the son…

by Josh JensenDecember 23, 2021
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Biblical Studies

On Not Needing to Cut the Baby in Half

A blade is raised. A child wails. But the brow under the crown is untroubled. Solomon knows that the raising of the sword will reveal the true parent and the identity of the son. But how did he know this? Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac certainly bears some of the…

by Jonathan WhiteDecember 21, 2021

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Falling stars

It’s one of those things everyone knows: The Bible talks a lot about falling stars. It turns out it’s one of those things that everyone knows but is wrong. There’s a single fallen star in Isaiah 14:12. Stars lose their brightness in various places (Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:109; 3:15). But…

August 14, 2014

Artist-Prophet

As the title suggests, Miles Unger’s Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces tells the life story of Michelangelo through six of his great works, including his Pieta , the David statue, the Sistine chapel. As masterful as those works were, and as much as the impressed themselves on the future…

August 13, 2014

Society of Jesus

J ohn O’Malley’s The Jesuits tells the complex story of the author’s order in a brief 160 pages. The small space lends focus, and O’Malley highlights the innovations and contributions of the Society of Jesus. Ignatius’s decision to focus on education for lay students gave the Jesuits a profile unlike…

August 13, 2014
Trinity

Social Trinitarian Pushback

Social trinitarianism has been on its heels in recent years, but in a bracing article in IJST , Gijsbert van den Brink of the Free University of Amsterdam thinks it can respond to the varied criticisms. It needs to be chastened and modified at points, but for van den Brink…

August 13, 2014

Bashing Augustine Bashers

Jenson gives a wonderfully curmudgeonly riposte to the critics of critics of Augustine ( The Theology of Colin Gunton , 11-12). “Whether long books or short articles, all display the same pattern: ‘But just look at these other things that Augustine said about God’s triunity . . . and aknowledge…

August 13, 2014

Was Noah Good?

Genesis 6:8 says that Noah “found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.” In the following verse, we’re told that Noah was a righteous man ( tzadiyq ), blameless in his generations,” and this assessment is reiterated in 7:1, which records Yahweh’s statement, “you alone I have seen to be righteous…

August 13, 2014

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