With this issue, Modern Reformation celebrates twenty years in print. The publication has changed considerably since its emergence as a magazine in 1992, and even more since 1986 when our editor-in-chief Michael Horton, then a student, began with a newsletter. Through the years, however, our goal has remained unchanged: we want to see the modern reformation of our churches. In this effort, we are literally turning over a new page to focus on the issues we believe are of common interest to all Christians in these times between the times.
Generally, we don't put much stock in movements, but we do care about the church as a matter of first priority. Our strategy is to encourage "conversational theology" in the village green where we can rub shoulders with Christians from all corners of Protestantism and pepper our talk with wisdom gained from the sixteenth-century Reformation. Our hope is that evangelical villagers will return to their houses of worship and press for a reformation of ministry, theology, and Christian discipleship. Sometimes we join a conversation already in progress; other times we want to change the subject (we hope without being rude!) and simply start a new and, we think, more productive conversation.
From the evangelical world, Modern Reformation subscribers are motivated laypeople who are willing to spend time in our pages, thinking, probing, pondering, and consulting the Scriptures. It is for this reason we continue to champion "the art of the essay" as the ideal medium for encouragement, persuasion, insight, caution, critique, and sometimes even provocation. We hope that you our reader will circulate dog-eared copies of the magazine to friends and family alike, and above all start a conversation for a modern reformation.
In this anniversary issue, we begin with sin and grace. The "doctrines of grace" are common to Reformation era churches but have been given a lot of press by the "Young, Restless, Reformed" movement. We interview the journalist who first broke the story, Collin Hansen, and later give Mark Galli, the senior managing editor of Christianity Today, an opportunity to opine on the contribution to evangelicalism made by this "New Calvinism." But as grace spills over many boundaries, Rick Ritchie explains how these biblical doctrines belong to Lutherans as much as Calvinists, and Michael Allen reminds us that the truths of the Reformation are in unity. Scott Churnock reflects on our sinful condition and R. Scott Clark explores Luther's theology of the bondage of the will. We host a conversation about sin and grace with prominent theologians, and on the back page Michael Horton draws out the meaning of the acronym "TULIP" and reminds us that, while not a summary of all Reformed theology, the truths represented are essential to faith and practice.
We want to see the church's wisdom from the ages applied in myriad ways to the contemporary scene because our common need is a recovery of grace, faith, Christ, and Scripture, all for God's glory and the flourishing of the church. Welcome to our anniversary year!
