“Come on now, how can you, as an evangelical Protestant, speak seriously about the unity of the church? You can hardly agree on anything amongst yourselves!” So guffawed my English Catholic friend whose recent “homecoming” to Rome from Evangelicalism bore all the enthusiasm of a neophyte–along with acute knowledge of the perceived issues and real […]
John Owen -Puritan theologian who lived from 1616-1683 and was committed to the congregational form of church government. While an educator and statesman, Owen is remembered primarily today for his prolific theological writings. He wrote on major themes of Calvinism (including particular redemption and divine election), of traditional Catholic orthodoxy, of church polity, and the […]
Institutions are in trouble these days and professionals are suspect. The political, legal, financial, educational, and even charitable realms of the western world are crumbling. A lack of moral integrity is at the core of this disintegration. This is sad to admit, but it is true–and not only the “have-nots” and the cynics acknowledge it. […]
What is-or better, who comprises-Evangelicalism? An increasing number of books describe evangelical theology, record evangelical history, warn of evangelical hubris, and debate the future of Evangelicalism. But, can we even define an evangelical? Should we define Evangelicalism? Who controls the future of Evangelicalism and shapes its identity? These questions are beginning to take on more […]
Initially, we probably don’t recognize remarkable similarities between Harold Camping, founder and president of Family Radio Network, and George Barna, founder and president of Barna Research Group. But they both have been in the news recently for similar reasons. Both believe that the visible, institutional church has failed miserably in our day and both suggest […]
Since the Reformation, the Christian world has splintered exponentially. The 2001 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia records 33,830 distinct Christian denominations across the world. One of the largest categories of Christians–in fact, second only to Roman Catholicism–is "Independent." The 386 million self-described Independent Christians outnumber Protestants by more than 40 million adherents. The rise […]
In one of the New Testament's shortest letters, Jude states that, while he had been eager to write to his readers about the salvation that he shared with them, he has found it necessary instead to urge them "to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). This […]
The author of numerous books, most recently, The Illumined Heart, Frederica Mathews-Green is a commentator on NPR's Morning Edition, a book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times and a columnist for Beliefnet.com. Her book, Facing East, charts her movement from being an evangelical Episcopalian to her embrace of Eastern Orthodoxy. Among other things, we asked […]
This is a good, big book. The second volume of John Frame's Theology of Lordship Series is firmly Reformed, outspoken, and diffident by turn, fresh in approach, richly biblical, mostly clear. It is the sort of book that informs and provokes thought. In this short review I shall endeavor to sketch the approach and the […]
If James Hunter's 1987 book, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation, was not a bomb on the happy playground of American evangelicals, it was at least a powerful grenade. In that book, as well as his 1983 work, American Evangelicalism: Conservative Religion and the Quandary of Modernity, Hunter set out to demonstrate that the theological and moral […]
