Judges is a book of riddles, grotesque comedy, tribal fracture, liturgical chaos, and unexpected deliverance.

Peter Leithart, Jeff Meyers, Alastair Roberts, and James Bejon open a new Theopolis series on the book of Judges, considering why this strange and violent book rewards close attention. The conversation explores the legacy of James Jordan’s work on Judges, the book’s intricate literary design, its unusual heroes and weapons, its recurring images of mutilation and deliverance, and the long Christian tradition of reading figures like Samson as types of Christ. Along the way, the discussion moves through Jonathan Edwards on Samson, E.T.A. Davidson’s work on the book’s visual “tableaux,” the role of women like Deborah and Jael, the political and tribal tensions of Israel, and the repeated refrain that “there was no king in Israel.” The episode closes by considering how Judges exposes Israel’s liturgical disorder and points beyond human kingship to the reign of Yahweh.

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In this re-released lecture, Dr. John Ahern explores why music moves us so deeply, arguing that music works not only through text and melody but through deeper structures—harmony, rhythm, form, and repetition—that shape our emotions often before we consciously notice them. He traces the rise of “art music” as a kind of substitute liturgy and contrasts ancient, churchly, and modern ways of understanding music’s power over the soul. Along the way, Ahern shows why debates about worship music run emotionally hot: music is not neutral background, but a force that orders—or disorders—our affections, desires, and imagination.

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John Ahern is the director of the Te Deum Music Fellows Program at Theopolis.

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In this Q&A episode, Peter Leithart, Jeff Meyers, and James Bejon take up listener questions on John Webster, the structure of 1 Corinthians, church polity, and the modern debate over race and marriage. They commend Webster as a rigorous and uplifting Reformed theologian, then trace the unifying threads of 1 Corinthians through Paul’s concerns for love, unity, the body, and rightly ordered freedom. The conversation also explores Theopolitan instincts on polity—holding together local rule, presbyterial order, and episcopal responsibility—before turning to the church as the new humanity in Christ, a chosen people drawn from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

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James B. Jordan continues his Revelation series with a study of Revelation 12:1–5, showing how the “great signs” in heaven reveal the drama of the old creation coming to its end. He explains the woman clothed with the sun, the dragon, and the child through the imagery of Israel, the constellations, the temple, and the long biblical story from Eve to Christ. Along the way, Jordan argues that Revelation is not abstract symbolism but a heavenly unveiling of history under God’s rule, culminating in the victory of Christ and the formation of His bride, the Church.

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In this Q&A episode, Peter Leithart is joined by Jeff Meyers, Alastair Roberts, and James Bejon to answer listener questions on Trinitarian theology, church unity, family worship, evangelism, and liturgy. They discuss the monarchy of the Father, the biblical pattern of calling the Father “God” and Jesus “Lord,” and the mystery of the Trinity’s unity. They also consider what a future united church might look like, how families can practice worship at home without confusing household devotion with church liturgy, whether evangelism is hindered in places devoted to other gods, and how evangelicals can recover richer liturgical practices without simply becoming “high church.”

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Malachi closes with a vision of the coming day: burning like a furnace for the wicked, but rising with healing for those who fear the Lord’s name.

Peter Leithart, Alastair Roberts, and James Bejon discuss the final chapter of Malachi, tracing its imagery of fire, harvest, threshing floor, calves released from the stall, and the sun of righteousness with healing in its wings. Along the way the conversation moves through John the Baptist’s warnings, Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, the temple as the Lord’s threshing floor, and the Exodus-shaped release of God’s faithful remnant. The episode closes by considering why Malachi ends with Moses and Elijah, how John the Baptist comes in the spirit and power of Elijah, and how the Lord promises to heal the breach between fathers and children before the great and terrible day.

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James Jordan continues his walk through the Book of Revelation.

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Malachi’s final disputation exposes Israel’s despairing complaint: “It is vain to serve God.”

Peter Leithart, Jeff Meyers, Alastair Roberts, and James Bejon explore the loss of confidence that comes when the wicked seem to prosper and the righteous appear unrewarded. Along the way the conversation moves through Psalm 73, Job, the biblical shape of the problem of evil, the difference between short-term reward and eschatological vindication, and the priestly language of serving and guarding that echoes Adam’s task in Eden. The episode closes with Malachi’s surprising portrait of the faithful remnant: those who fear the Lord, speak with one another, and are written in His book of remembrance as His treasured possession — a remnant finally distilled in Jesus, the faithful Israelite.

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Malachi’s next disputation begins with the Lord’s unchanging covenant faithfulness: because Yahweh does not change, Jacob is not consumed.

Meyers, Roberts, and Bejon explore Israel’s insincere question, “How shall we return?” and the Lord’s shocking answer: they have been robbing God in tithes and contributions. Along the way the conversation moves through the temple storehouse, the Torah’s provision for Levites, widows, orphans, and sojourners, the difference between transactional worship and enacted prayer, and the risky faith of giving before the blessing is visible. The episode closes by connecting Malachi’s empty storehouse to Jesus’ denunciation of a temple system that devours widows’ houses — and to the early church’s reversal of that injustice in Acts.

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The sixth disputation of Malachi opens with a damning charge: Israel's cynicism has crossed from lamentation into active distortion of justice — calling evil good and demanding a God of justice they don't actually want. Meyers, Roberts, and Bejon explore how the Lord's answer to that hollow provocation is a coming that refines rather than destroys, purifying the sons of Levi so that right offerings — and right lives — can at last be brought before him. Along the way the conversation moves through the second temple's peculiar vacancy, the mincha offering as tribute of human work, and the Lord's role as expert witness in a divine lawsuit.