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In times of suffering, we sometimes cry out, "Why me?" More often, though, our cry is provoked by tragedies that happen to others’loved ones and even those in distant countries who are suddenly wiped out in devastating circumstances. We mourn the death of parents and grandparents, but the death of a child or the destruction […]
Almost every culture’whether it be ancient or modern’possesses a common superstitious belief that whenever anything bad happens to someone, it is because the person has done something to bring about the tragic event. It is common for people to ask themselves (or even ask others) what the victim did to cause God (or fate or […]
The Puritans are best known for their works of practical theology’works that express a profound grasp of biblical knowledge, channeled into tangible and helpful application for the believer. Foremost among the subjects of practical divinity is the relationship between human suffering and divine sovereignty. The American church is always in danger of abandoning a robust […]
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 […]
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 […]
Editor’s Note: A few years ago, Michael Horton was asked to deliver the funeral message for Don, a long-time Christian friend who—having encountered a number of family, career, and health difficulties that led to a deep depression—committed suicide. Being concerned to avoid speculation about questions that cannot be answered, while affirming Scripture’s answers to our […]
I think it's a safe bet to assume that Nadia Bolz-Weber isn't the only female pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. I would even venture to guess that she is not the only female pastor with tattoos! And, having been around Lutherans for a number of years now, her "earthy" language certainly isn't […]
Gregory Beale has written a gem of a handbook for pastors, scholars, and all those concerned with a serious engagement of the New Testament's reading and use of the Old Testament. Beale is known particularly for his work on quotes and allusions of the Old Testament (OT) that appear in the New Testament (NT). This […]
Philip E. Dow has written an engaging, thoughtful, and timely book titled Virtuous Minds. In this book Dow, a Cambridge-educated school administrator in Kenya, attempts to make a unique contribution to the field of character education, focusing on the traits of "virtuous thinking" or "intellectual character building." The thesis of his book is that before […]
Hyper-Calvinism, like so many "ism" words, is hard to define. It is sometimes said that a fundamentalist is that person on the Christian spectrum who is slightly to the right of you. Thus "hyper-Calvinist" is often used as a pejorative by those who are just a tad more Calvinistic than the one using the epithet. […]
Surveying the evangelical landscape, those of us of Calvinist or Reformation conviction are supposed to be the intellectual types, the so-called smarty-pants always ready with an answer. At any rate, that's our reputation. But what do we say when it comes to the difficult and intensely personal "why" questions that arise in the midst of […]
