In 2016, Catholic philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre published Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity, which is perhaps the capstone of a series of important works analyzing and evaluating the evolution of western moral philosophy from its Greco-Roman and Christian foundations to various competing secular systems. Beginning in 1981 with After Virtue and extending through its sequel […]
Friday, 24 June, 2022 by Michael Farley
In my previous article, I outlined three different Reformed approaches to the regulative principle of worship (RPW). Having described those different views, I now turn to evaluate the merits of these three hermeneutical approaches to understanding and applying biblical norms for worship. The first model, the praxis-oriented RPW, has the merit of focusing attention on […]
Wednesday, 23 February, 2022 by Michael Farley
Disputes about how churches should worship are often hard not only due to disagreement about specific practices but also due to disagreement about the standards by which we should evaluate them. Clarifying these differing assumptions and standards is an essential first step toward better understanding. Above all, confessional Protestants want worship to be biblical, but […]
Monday, 22 November, 2021 by Michael Farley
Easter deserves more than a day. But in many Protestant churches, one day is all it gets, and I believe that it deserves greater attention. This article makes the case that celebrating Easter as a full season provides an opportunity to make the resurrection of Jesus more explicitly central to the liturgical life and practical […]
Monday, 26 July, 2021 by Michael Farley
Every year I help plan worship services for the season of Lent at my Presbyterian church, and every year I am reminded that this is a bad idea by Carl Trueman’s essay and surrejoinder that invariably cross my desk. Having engaged in liturgical scholarship about Reformed participation in ecumenical liturgical movements of the past two […]
Friday, 26 March, 2021 by Michael Farley