Providence."In our culture, when we hear this word, we probably think first of Rhode Island or the TV show based on it. At one time, however, the word bore so much heavy freight that towns like the one in Rhode Island were named after this doctrine. Roger Williams, the Calvinistic Baptist who helped found the […]
MR: Most serious thinkers recognize that, before we begin using terms like “good” and “bad,” we need to know what we mean by them. What do you mean by them? Is there a universal, transcendent law or standard of some sort by which good and bad are to be measured? RHK: At the very foundation […]
With their "for EVERYONE" books, the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) launches a major new series of guides to the New Testament. The first two volumes available in the series, Mark and Luke, issue from the pen of prolific author and Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey, England, N. T. (Tom) Wright. The […]
Time was when the Protestant publishing world was clearly divided between evangelical and mainline readers and authors. Over the last decade, this division has become less discernible and these recent books from Brazos Press, a division of Baker Book House, are representative of the trend. According to its own publicity material, Brazos is "an ecumenical […]
How should Christians respond to the example of the believing marriage counselor who helps a nonbelieving married couple recover from the husband’s adulterous affair? If this counselor rejoices in saving the marriage, even though he has tried but can’t save the couple’s souls, has he somehow betrayed his prior allegiance to Christ and the gospel […]
…Providence is the beneficent outworking of God's sovereignty whereby all events are directed and disposed to bring about those purposes of glory and good for which the universe was made. These events include the actions of free agents, which while remaining free, personal, and responsible are also the intended actions of those agents. Providence thus […]
Truly, you are a God who hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior” (Isa. 45:15). Where is God? Why didn’t he do something? Why do bad things happen to good people? These are the questions asked in the midst of suffering and death. For Lutherans, there are only two theological frameworks from which to […]
Remember September 11th. Rarely have three words echoed back to such a dark moment in our national past or caused us more anxiety about our future. That Tuesday morning in late summer-a year ago now-made us a fearful global village, reeling to comprehend all that was happening. While many of our readers may be too […]
My phone doesn't usually ring at 6:45 a.m. I could hear someone leaving me an urgent message: "Turn on the television!" When I turned the TV on, I watched in horror as a commercial jet airliner crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York. From the smoke pouring out […]
Even committed confessional Protestants can view the doctrine of providence with mixed feelings. Yes, it is biblical. Yes, it glorifies God. Yet it raises difficult questions about the existence of evil and our ability to make free choices. And, after all, what practical difference could this doctrine make in our daily lives? In the late […]
When I was seventeen, I fell about fifty feet off a Tarzan-like rope swing, breaking two of my thoracic vertebrae; I became paralyzed from my waist down. I spent six months in hospitals regaining some use of my legs. Once I had regained a little movement, the doctors tried to help me regain more by […]
