Martin Luther: Visionary Reformer By Scott H. Hendrix Yale University Press, 2017 368 pages (paperback), $22.00 Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet By Lyndal Roper Random House, 2017 576 pages (hardback), $40.00 October 31, 1517: Martin Luther and the Day that Changed the World By Martin Marty Paraclete Press, 2016 128 pages (hardback), $19.99 When Martin […]
Friday, 01 September, 2017 by Adam S. Francisco
Martin Luther's historical significance is not only indisputable, it is also hard to overstate. His effort to clear away the artificial and arbitrary trappings of the Roman church in order to bring it in line with the teachings of the Bible was the impetus to the Protestant Reformation, a late medieval event that in some […]
Sunday, 28 February, 2016 by Adam S. Francisco
There are several revisionist theories regarding the origins of Christianity peddled in popular academic culture. One of the more pervasive ones claims that a number of legitimate yet competing understandings of Jesus existed in the first century. Some viewed him as a great moral teacher. Others saw him as a political activist. Still others considered […]
Friday, 01 May, 2009 by Adam S. Francisco
The interest Christians have taken in Islam has a long and tortuous history, dating back as far as the seventh century. And the vast amount of literature generated over the centuries has, as literature does, given birth to a variety of images of the Muslim world. None of it has been particularly flattering. Rarely has […]
Friday, 01 May, 2009 by Adam S. Francisco
Denial of the existence of God-or atheism-is by no means novel. There were atheists as far back as the first millennia b.c. King David referred to such people who, despite the manifest evidence in creation, acted like and even convinced themselves that there was no God as outright fools (Pss. 8:3, 10:4, 14:1). The Greeks […]
Friday, 29 February, 2008 by Adam S. Francisco
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 […]
Wednesday, 02 May, 2007 by Adam S. Francisco