In Praise of the Theopolis Institute

It’s that time again. There is much good taking place in Birmingham, AL this week and I am headed over to do some networking and rebelling against the principalities and powers with my fellow Theopolitans.

I have served on the board of the Theopolis Institute for a few years now. By some bizarre logic, the powers that be think I am a benefit to the institute. Of course, in my estimation, serving the institute is more of a happy obligation than anything. Virtually everything that comes out of my mouth, including the incessant display of words, is a direct result of the kind of fascination they instilled in me for biblical, liturgical, and cultural language.

Those theological provocateurs, starting with my old mentor, James B. Jordan, led me on a path to explore new vistas that my poor hermeneutical brain had never contemplated. It changed everything about me. If I read a book, it’s there. If I watch a movie, it’s there.

I remember spending some time in Jordan’s office some years ago sharing my frustration with how difficult it is to convey theological truth in our age. He gently rebuked me and said that the point is not how much we convey, but how it is conveyed. We can bombard the evangelical culture with apologetic fragments, but if we don’t change the hermeneutic of the church, we will always be behind the times. We live in a hermeneutical war.

Leithart wrote recently:

“It may look as if we’re fiddling with typology, Psalmody, and liturgy as the world burns. What we’re actually doing is laying the groundwork – the only solid groundwork – for a renewed world.”

This careful vision articulated may appear naive in light of the times, but it is the very means by which the Church strikes the ideologies of false empires and kingdoms.

“But the White House is advocating for vaccine mandates.” Answer: “Sing Psalms of Imprecation.”

“But the church is being overwhelmed by woke ideologies.”Answer: “Worship heartily each Sunday.”

“But the culture is being indoctrinated by ungodly sexual ethics.” Answer: “Study, recite, and sing the Bible together.”

Much of what I do is a reflection of that vision. In fact, my small role in life is to popularize a biblical mindset that slowly removes the desire for immediacy and establishes an ecclesiastical flavor for the good life in the next 1,000 years. I won’t see it. You won’t see it. But future generations will see and reap a harvest.

I have often said that a small congregation with committed doers and thinkers can easily out-culture a church five times its size. The Christian’s call is to plod along. Numerical success is a blessing, but discipleship through biblical enculturation is even better. If I can teach my son that Jael is a picture of our intellectual responsibility, then we have ourselves an army. A quick glance at Theopolis’ vision is enough to turn the most introverted into a samba dancer:

“We believe that the Spirit of God works through faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word, through vibrant, rich, transformative Liturgy, and through courageous and diligent pastoral leadership to form the church into an image of the future city of God.”

I subscribe to every ounce of that paragraph as eagerly as I consume Brazilian steak. No meat is left behind. My entire paradigm changed when I first read these guys 20 years ago, and whether you know it or not, if you enjoy anything I write, you are being indoctrinated in the love language of typology, the vibrant ethos of a liturgical movement that has one goal in mind–turn you into a Sisera-killing machine.

We press on driving tent-pegs through the secularized versions of the faith, claiming Jesus as Lord and King, and changing minds one biblical text at a time. I embrace this deep weirdness with the sobriety of a visionary who looks at the plains of Moab and seeks to plant vineyards in the most fertile pieces of land.

Pray for Theopolis Institute, its president, Peter J. Leithart, and our whole tribe as we meet and feast and seek the well-being of the city and the glory of the Triune God. There is so much work to be done, but we are patient plodders planting seeds and inculcating the Gospel hermeneutic in the hearts of pastors and parishioners alike.