When trying to understand something, knowing its context is critical. This is true of the Bible. It is also true for leaders. Thus, as a person connected to the phenomenon of the emerging church, I would like to tell a little bit of my story and make some observations from it as a way of […]
Not long ago, I taught an online apologetics course for a Christian college where class was held in a chat room. The students were required to attend for a specified period of time and then were free to leave, though they were also free to stay around if they wished. Often, two or three would […]
Having written about the Reformed orthodox endorsement of metaphysics (though not a simply agreed upon endorsement, it must be said; there was debate about the role and limits of philosophy in theology among the Reformed), it is also important, in order to fill out the historical picture a bit further, to note a common line […]
Grief requires process time. Immersed in your favorite book with your favorite music playing in the background, you sense a tiny bit of stability amid the vortex of pain. An insistent rapping startles and then draws you to your front door. It is a well-intentioned visitor stopping by to drop off a book he would […]
Reading Brian McLaren makes me feel a little like Hilary Clinton listening to President Bush’s State of the Union speech in 2001: thrilled that the administration is advocating a prescription drug program for seniors, but wondering-as the bandwagon rolls by-“Hey, wasn’t that my issue!” Like Clinton must have felt, I am grateful that McLaren is […]
In a current White Horse Inn roundtable discussion, Michael Horton (MH), Ken Jones (KJ), Kim Riddlebarger (KR), and Rod Rosenbladt (RR) discuss the book of Job. You can follow the rest of the discussion at www.whitehorseinn.org. Job was a man deeply devoted to God, and Satan chided God for Job's faithfulness: Why wouldn't he be […]
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) Easier said than done, right? What exactly constitutes “training”? Matthew 28:19 gives us a bit of help: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, […]
Controversies over evolution excite every bit as much passion in the late twentieth century as they have ever done. Christian believers who seek humbly to understand the means by which God directs the natural world as well as honest scientists who seek to deal responsibly with what their researches reveal are regularly shouted aside by […]
When the hero’s identity has been established and he has overcome reluctance to accept his responsibilities, he enters into the dangerous temptations of pride. In the opening voice over of Spider-Man 3 we hear, “It’s me. Peter Parker. Your friendly neighborhood… you know. I’ve come a long way from being the boy who was bit […]
Merold Westphal writes in Whose Community? Which Interpretation?: "It is sometimes said, that one is not prepared to read any serious philosophical text until one has already read it at least once, and there is a lot of truth in this reminder that philosophy, like physics, takes serious, disciplined preparation. There are no cheap seats […]
In Deconstructing Evangelicalism, Presbyterian historian (and contributing scholar to Modern Reformation) D. G. Hart joins both historical argument and theological prescription in his typically iconoclastic fashion. Claiming that the recent resurgence of evangelical history is nothing more than a historical and sociological fiction papering over the differences in the creeds, polity, and worship practices of […]
If anyone had told me that I would one day write an article defending any kind of liturgy, much less something called "Reformed liturgy," I would have politely changed the subject. But here I am, writing that very article and almost giddy with enthusiasm for the project. If the reader will permit a bit of […]