This is a terrific book and is well summarized by its title. The intersecting concepts of idolatry and worship are examined in this large scale biblical theological study. Beale's core claim, "What we revere, we will resemble either for our ruin or for our restoration," aptly captures the central biblical insight about idolatry. As creatures […]
Friday, 27 February, 2009 by Richard Lints
Many lament the vast diversity of Protestant denominations on the American landscape: Why cannot we Christians agree more often? Denominations allegedly undermine the unity of the church. Let me suggest it is not denominations that undermine the unity of the church, but rather the way in which most Americans relate to church in the first […]
Tuesday, 01 July, 2008 by Richard Lints
As a seminary professor, I am sometimes asked, "What does it mean to be Reformed?" This is an eminently sensible question in light of the many stereotypes that abound about the Reformed tradition. One way to begin to answer it is to say that, for the Reformed, the boundaries of one's theological convictions are to […]
Tuesday, 12 June, 2007 by Richard Lints
You may have heard Lutherans, Reformed, and other confessional Protestants criticize parachurch "statements of faith," while simultaneously celebrating the creeds of the early Church, and the confessions and catechisms flowing from the Reformation. Why this distinction? Is it simply a function of a nostalgic attachment to the past, a naive yearning for a lost golden […]
Tuesday, 12 June, 2007 by Richard Lints
Today, especially in academic settings, it is regularly assumed that the Christian Scriptures can no longer be taken at face value, as they were for the first eighteen hundred years of the church's life. For many, it seems obvious that something about our contemporary experience prohibits us from reading the Bible straightforwardly as a faithful […]
Wednesday, 30 May, 2007 by Richard Lints
Are the Scriptures clear? Most of us would tend to answer: "sometimes yes, sometimes no." There are passages that seem straightforward and other passages that appear really confusing. What else could we expect of a collection of books written over the course of 1,500 years, by so many diverse authors, in so many diverse styles? […]
Wednesday, 02 May, 2007 by Richard Lints