As the modern world crumbles, Christians scramble for answers. The solution is right in front of us - the Christian church, an outpost of the heavenly city among the cities of men. The Theopolitan Vision explains what the church is, and how the Spirit empowers the church's world-transforming mission through Word and worship, Scripture and liturgy. It shows how the church can be a city of light in a dark age.
Worship isn't a retreat from the political and cultural clashes of our time or preparation for culture-transforming work. Culture is transformed in church liturgy. By working out a biblical theology of worship, Peter J. Leithart shows how the church's liturgy Christianizes culture, moving creation toward its consummation in the new creation.
We learn to read because we're taught by people who can read. We learn to read well because good readers model good reading and guide us as mentors. For Christians reading the Bible, Jesus is the Model reader, and we learn to read well by following His example and submitting to the mentors He gives. Reading well is an act of discipleship.
The heavenly city of God resurrects the cities of men. On Earth as in Heaven calls the church to embrace her identity and mission as one shaped by biblical theology and liturgy. The world grows increasingly polarized and politicized, but the church's commission remains unchanged. Christians carry out Jesus's mission by being the church. To change the world, the church needs only to be what she is—the bride of Christ—and to do what she does—teach, preach, sing, pray, break bread. Cultural and political mission and individual witness and service all spring from the church's liturgical life. As the church proclaims God's word and practices vibrant liturgy, she is God's heavenly city, shining as a light to the world.
Doxology: a journal of worship and the sacramental life, Volume 33.2 (Pentecost 2022) Founded in 1984, Doxology: a journal of worship and the sacramental life is a quarterly, peer reviewed journal published by the Order of Saint Luke (OSL Publications). It focuses on emerging and historical theologies and practices of Christian worship. Print distribution is to the members of the Order globally, as well as to a number of theology departments and seminary libraries in the United States. Doxology also continues the tradition of the journal Sacramental Life, which merged with Doxology in 2020.
In Theopolitan Mission, Peter J. Leithart explores the meaning of human "making" and the model of two biblical makers, Noah and Jesus, to identify the church's mission as the calling of man: to build God's temple in the world, then to remodel the world after the pattern of the sanctuary. Jesus is the Carpenter of Nazareth, the new and greater Noah, who builds a living ark from the crooked timber of humanity. Through us, the remade humanity, Jesus fulfills His second task, remaking the creation. Like the first godly maker in Scripture, Jesus builds an ark to preserve the treasure of the old world, which are materials for a new world. Theopolitan Mission concludes its meditation on making, mis-making, and right-making by attending to the book of Acts, the great missionary narrative of Scripture. Theopolitan Mission is a companion to Leithart's Theopolitan Liturgy, part of a meditation on the relationship between liturgy and culture. The Theopolis Fundamentals Series introduces the Biblical Horizons / Theopolis outlook and agenda to a new generation. The early volumes of the series summarize our convictions about biblical interpretation, liturgical theology and practice, and the church's cultural and political mission. The Fundamentals will be followed by a collection of Theopolis Explorations volumes that will examine Scripture, liturgy, and culture in more depth and detail.
How could a conservative Christian-an ordained minister with a beard, no less-be against not only Christianity, but theology, sacraments, and ethics as well? Yet that is the stance Peter Leithart takes in this provocative "theological bricolage." Seeking to rethink evangelical notions of culture, church, and state, Leithart offers a series of short essays, aphorisms, and parables that challenge the current dichotomies that govern both Christian and non- Christian thinking about church and state, the secular and the religious. But his argument isn't limited to being merely "against." Leithart reveals a much larger vision of Christian society, defined by the stories, symbols, rituals, and rules of a renewed community-the city of God.
Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. Humans--as Augustine noted--are "desiring agents," full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love. James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire in Desiring the Kingdom, the first book in what will be a three-volume set on the theology of culture. He redirects our yearnings to focus on the greatest good: God. Ultimately, Smith seeks to re-vision education through the process and practice of worship. Students of philosophy, theology, worldview, and culture will welcome Desiring the Kingdom, as will those involved in ministry and other interested readers.
The Theopolis Liturgy and Psalter presents a number of liturgical materials for a Matins, Sext, and Vespers service as well as a selection of Psalms translated by James B. Jordan with numerous settings arranged by Jordan for chanting.
In this probing book Oliver O'Donovan extends the exploration into the correspondence between theology and politics that he began in The Desire of the Nations. While that earlier work took as its starting point the biblical proclamation of God's authority, The Ways of Judgment approaches political theology from the political side. Responsive to developments such as the uncertain role of the United Nations after the Cold War and the expansion of the European Union, O'Donovan also draws on the extensive tradition of Christian political thought and a range of contemporary theologians. Rather than supposing, as does some political theology, that the right political orientations are well understood and that theological beliefs should be renegotiated to fit them, O'Donovan considers contemporary social and political realities to be impenetrably obscure and elusive. Finding the gospel proclamation luminous by contrast, O'Donovan sheds light from the Christian faith upon the intricate challenge of seeking the good in late-modern Western society. Pursuing his analysis in three movements, O'Donovan first considers the paradigmatic political act, the act of judgment, and then takes up the question of forming political institutions through representation. Finally, he tackles the opposition between political institutions and the church, provocatively investigating how Christians can be the community instructed by Jesus to "judge not."
