It is fitting that we end the year, looking forward to the Christmas holiday, with an issue on soli Deo gloria. Not only do the familiar Christmas carols and stories of angel voices singing "glory" to the Lord remind us of our celebration of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, but the entire Christmas story […]
It has been said that pride is the oldest sin in the universe and that it shows no signs of growing weaker with age. Pride is the overestimation of our own worth and the inevitable tendency to exaggerate our own accomplishments. If the Bible is clear about anything, it is that ours is a fallen […]
The Jewish historian Josephus recounts the sight of Herod’s temple before its destruction. As the sun rose, its gilded surface became so brilliant that pilgrims could see it from miles away as they approached the city. Isaiah 60 envisions a still more remarkable scene. The context is the Babylonian exile. Here Zion is lying in […]
Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage, Rühmet, was heute der Höchste getan! Lasset das Zagen, verbannet die Klage, Stimmet voll Jauchzen und Fröhlichkeit an! Dienet dem Höchsten mit herrlichen Chören, LaÃ?t uns den Namen des Herrschers verehren! Rejoice, exult! Up, glorify the days, praise what the All Highest this day has done! Set aside fear, […]
Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned him, and to which God has called him.1 Corinthians 7:17 "Justification by faith alone" is surely the most important contribution of the Reformation. The second most important, arguably, is the "doctrine of vocation." Whereas the doctrine of justification has wide currency, the doctrine […]
The Family The family comprises many different vocations. A particular person may have, at the same time, the vocation of being the husband to his wife, a father to his children, and a son to his own parents as long as they are living. Each of these family vocations has a specific-and limited-number of neighbors […]
Michael Horton talks with pastors from three denominations – Lutheran, Reformed, and Presbyterian – about what it means to give glory to God through worship in the church, and in turn receive God's gifts of peace, righteousness, and satisfaction. HORTON: Welcome to a special roundtable discussion about worship. We're taking up this topic not because […]
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of […]
Each issue we're looking at a book published during Modern Reformation's 15-year history, with a look to why this book was and still is significant. It is easy to recognize sin when it is packaged in the fires of an explosion. When a car bomb ripped through the World Trade Center in 1993, and then […]
Many Christian books available today seek to interpret or engage culture on our behalf. These (sometimes) wise guides attempt to critique culture in general or some aspect of it in light of the truth of the Bible. Kevin Vanhoozer, Charles Anderson, and Michael Sleasman want to do something more than interpret for us, something that […]
It has been twenty years since Alan Bloom claimed that his "nice" students lacked all ability to talk about evil. This was not a living category in the surrounding culture back then, and the students' connections with literature were too thin to supply them with a deeper view of things. The post-9/11 generation, however, has […]
The New Testament epistle of James emphasizes practical piety and lived-out faith, offering dozens of easily understood commands for Christians. Its simple clarity, however, is a two-edged sword. In some circles, James is known but not studied, perhaps because the instructions for godly living demand too high a standard. James asks the uncomfortably acute question, […]
Many evangelicals today suspect that were they to imitate the New Testament's use of the Old Testament, they would be getting the right doctrine from the wrong texts. Is it possible for today's uninspired exegete to employ the christological hermeneutic of the apostles? Drawing on a lifetime of pastoral ministry and teaching as a professor […]
I've been mulling over how to start this for several days. I read Ayaan Hirsi Ali's explosive memoir, Infidel, in the context of other reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini's second novel that focuses on the suffering of women in Islamic culture; and The Known World, a novel by Edward P. Jones about the […]
Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mineMeltin' in a pot of thievesWild card up my sleeveThick heart of stoneMy sins my ownThey belong to me, me People say beware! But I don't careThe words are justRules and regulations to me, me Patti Smith, "Gloria" Throughout the history of American popular music, critics have argued […]
