The modern age sees Martin Luther as a hero for standing up to the might of both pope and emperor with his famous trial at Worms: "Here I stand." Yet such admirers often forget that the German reformer was not inaugurating a new era of the enlightened and autonomous individual. We recognize that simply by […]
The twentieth century could, with some accuracy, be called a century of theological anarchy. Liberals and sectarians have long rejected outright many of the fundamental tenets of Christian orthodoxy. But more recently professing evangelical scholars have advocated revisionary versions of numerous doctrines. A revisionary doctrine of God has been advocated by proponents of “openness theology.” […]
D. F. Strauss once declared that the question of how to authenticate the biblical canon was the "Achilles heel" of Reformed/Protestant Christianity. After all, when it comes to the New Testament, how do we know for sure that we have the right 27 books? Why not 26 books? Or 28? And if we cannot adequately […]
Are the Scriptures clear? Most of us would tend to answer: "sometimes yes, sometimes no." There are passages that seem straightforward and other passages that appear really confusing. What else could we expect of a collection of books written over the course of 1,500 years, by so many diverse authors, in so many diverse styles? […]
“Do you have any drugs, guns, pornography or Bibles?” Guards at the Romanian border asked this question as we attempted to pass through the Iron Curtain to minister to Christians living under the persecution of an atheistic communist dictatorship. Our training and the language barrier, together with some Swiss chocolate and a carton of American […]
In October 2006, editor-in-chief Michael Horton had the opportunity to interview Sam Solomon, a former Muslim who spent fifteen years studying Shari'ah law (Islamic jurisprudence) to become an Islamic jurist. Upon his conversion to Christianity, Sam was given forty-eight hours to leave the country. He fled to Europe, where he is a Christian apologist and […]
In each issue, we're looking at a book published during Modern Reformation's 15-year history with a look to why this book was and still is significant. Don A. Carson first published his award-winning book The Gagging of God in 1996, the year that I was ordained to preach the gospel. I devoured the book shortly […]
Evangelical involvement in politics has perhaps never been more intense. The Bush administration speaks of integrating faith and politics and has an office of faith-based initiatives. The national media cover the scandals of evangelical leaders because those evangelicals have political clout. Indeed, most Christians on the right and left seem to agree that there is […]
In 1978, James Montgomery Boice sounded the following warning in Foundation of Biblical Authority, the introductory volume explaining the purpose behind the formation of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI). Boice wrote that "even among evangelicals, Christian doctrine and Christian living are moving progressively away from the biblical standard and from the classical teachings […]
The hit TV show Seinfeld has been called a show about nothing. One of the most pernicious falsehoods about the Bible is that it, too, is a book about nothing, that it is a random collection of ancient myths and moral aphorisms. Strangely, some Christians seem to regard Scripture this way. Others find unity in […]
Passages from the Qur'an said to be revealed in the earliest days of Islam suggest that Muhammad (570-632) viewed his religion as a reassertion of the monotheism of Christianity. As contacts between Christians and the nascent Muslim sect in Mecca increased, he even reportedly dissuaded his followers from debating with Christians. Instead the Muslims were […]
