“Who knows what true loneliness is?” Joseph Conrad famously said. “Not the conventional word but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask.”[1] At first sight, loneliness seems easy to define. During the pandemic, a wave of concerns arose on behalf of people who suddenly found themselves isolated, especially the elderly and […]
Asking how theologians and biblical scholars relate has become like asking what Athens has to do with Jerusalem. A Nehemiah-like wall has been constructed between the disciplines of theology and exegesis, to which come R.B. Jamieson and Tyler Wittman, declaring in Biblical Reasoning: Christological and Trinitarian Rules for Exegesis, “tear down this wall!” While distinctions […]
By now, the pattern is familiar. A young evangelical becomes disenchanted with her religious upbringing, discovers the liturgical church, and “walks the Canterbury Trail,” joining an Anglican or Episcopal church. She may even conclude the Anglican tradition is insufficiently Catholic and turn to Roman Catholicism or the Eastern Orthodox Church. Back in 1985 when Wheaton […]
While in seminary, I often distinguished between those who read John Calvin and those who read Calvin on the john. For some, theological reading is a matter of business; for others, pleasure. It certainly hasn’t helped that many of our greatest thinkers lost their charm as soon as they applied pen to paper. The uninspired […]
The well-read life was the aspiration of bygone saints. No, not the life that was read by everyone (That was usually fantastical and morbid!), but the life that was spent reading everything. For these old saints, heaven on earth was a scriptorium, where illuminated manuscripts and scrolls containing the collected knowledge, wisdom, and misinformation of […]
In his preface to the 1545 Wittenberg edition of his Latin writings, Martin Luther provided an autobiographical account of his discovery of the meaning of the Gospel. There the old doctor recounted the story of that all-important time when, as a young theologian troubled by his sin and by the threat of God’s justice, he […]
One subject that brings even fundamentalists and liberals together is the criticism of systematic theology. For instance, many of us were reared to suspect that if someone clearly embraced some particular system (e.g., Calvinist, Arminian, or Lutheran), then that would probably lead to the suppression of biblical teaching wherever specific passages didn’t easily fit into […]
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As we approach the end of 2022, it seems appropriate to reminisce. Looking back, 2022 has been an exciting year for Modern Reformation. We’ve celebrated thirty years with a redesign of the print magazine and website, we’ve published some significant content—tackling tough but important issues in a spirit of humility and fidelity—and we’ve engaged in […]
We live in an age of denominations and distinctions, and many bemoan the seemingly constant influx of new denominations by way of church splits and schisms. The total number of Protestant denominations today varies based on who is doing the talking (and often based on their denominational affiliation as well!), but most estimates put it […]
The year 2022 has been an exciting one for Modern Reformation. We’ve celebrated our thirty-year anniversary with a redesign of the print magazine and website and published a new MR book. We’ve been privileged to feature some great writers this past year and have enjoyed lots of great discussions with our readership. Now, as we […]
"Modern Reformation has championed confessional Reformation theology in an anti-confessional and anti-theological age."
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