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Modern Reformation does not believe that the world today is necessarily any more sinful now than it was five hundred or a thousand years ago. Scripture speaks simply of two ages after the fall of Adam: this present evil age and the age that is to come (Heb. 6:5; 2 Cor. 4:4). To be sure, […]
Even before I moved to the South two years ago, I was a direct and indirect observer of the megachurch culture. In this article, I would like to venture a handful of observations, crystallized by a recent visit to a Bible Belt megachurch. It is important to note at the outset that no particular church […]
Once upon a time, the people who built churches believed the buildings could talk. Today, many of the people who build churches for a living don’t know what their buildings are saying. The buildings still speak, but mostly the messages are unintentional. And regrettably some church buildings actually contradict what is being preached from the […]
What does your sin deserve? As Christians, we know our sin deserves punishment. It is displeasing to God. Yet how does our Lord really perceive it? What does his justice actually require? On the slopes of Sinai, we saw glimpses of glory in that sapphire pavement. We beheld an impression of paradise, of what it […]
Modern Reformation recently asked Steve Bruce, University of Aberdeen sociologist and leading international authority on secularization, to discuss some of the major issues he raises in his important book Secularization: In Defence of an Unfashionable Theory (Oxford University Press, 2013). What is the “Secularization Paradigm” and why has it come under fire in recent decades? […]
From the beginning of the world there has been no region, no city, in short, no household that could do without religion….At the same time, I do not say, as Cicero did, that errors disappear with the lapse of time, and that religion grows and becomes better each day. (1) John Calvin Introducing the Secularization […]
Imagine for a moment that a school in your neighborhood organizes a field trip for one hundred of its students to a nearby zoo and that during this trip a number of large animals escape and end up trampling sixty children. Not only would this become a national news story, but more importantly, it would […]
I confess to being a fan of Terry Eagleton and to having read almost everything he has ever written. Yes, he is a committed Marxist, even though that particular family of philosophies has lost all credibility; but he always writes with wit and intelligence and is perhaps the only man who can make his readers […]
The doctrine of the Trinity is right at the core of the historic Christian faith. From the ancient creeds, medieval theologians and the Reformation confessions to current liturgies, sermons, and prayers, the doctrine of the Trinity is a precious truth of Christianity. With The Quest for the Trinity, Stephen Holmes has given Christian scholars another […]
George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is a captivating and harrowing work about human nature under stress dealing with ambition. In the unfinished seven-volume work (the first five books have been published), he chronicles the history of Westeros, a fictional, medieval land of magic and battle, peasants and nobles, and the […]
Among the many factors, sociologists often include the following: The Growth of Literacy and Universal Education This brings greater empowerment of individuals, liberating them from inherited hierarchies, but it also tends to separate the individual from the community. The result is not only emancipation in terms of social and economic mobility (additional factors in modernization), […]
1. Privatization Religion becomes more privatized‘especially without the reinforcement of widely shared cultural practices (such as the rhythm of holy days, festivals, and Sunday observances) and public policy (such as state support for a particular church, anti-blasphemy laws, and religious instruction in schools). 2. Pluralization Privatization leads to pluralization, especially as new immigrants arrive with […]
