Contending for the Faith
(PART TWO OF A FIVE-PART SERIES) Whatever else Jude was—and he was many things, as he tells us in the first four verses of his short Epistle: a servant of Jesus Christ, a brother of James (and by extension, a brother of Jesus himself)—he was a worried man. Worried, not in the sense of someone […]
(PART ONE OF A FIVE-PART SERIES) My grandfather was a boxer. He was never good enough to be a professional, but he did a good deal of amateur boxing when he was a young man and always loved “the fights” (as he called boxing matches) throughout his long life. The biggest compliment he ever paid […]
Christian missionaries are witnesses, warriors, and ambassadors in exile. It is common to view missions in terms of tasks such as proclaiming the gospel or, with modern trends, incarnating it. (1) There are problems we encounter when we limit ourselves to these words. Proclamation is something we send out, but with global work not all […]
It must have been quite a scene. Coins were scattered. Cattle and sheep were running. Even the tables were overturned. And there, in the midst of this chaos . . . Jesus. Jesus had entered the temple courts in Jerusalem and witnessed the crass commercialism of the people. There in the temple courts, bankers were […]
According to reports, Prince Charles intends—if he ever ascends the British throne—to change his title from “Defender of the Faith” to “Defender of Faith.” What’s the loss in dropping a definite article? Everything, actually—the traditional title refers to the defense of a particular confession, a body of doctrine concerning the Triune God who has rescued […]
“RELIGION . . . IS THE OPIATE OF THE PEOPLE.”1 Karl Marx’s well-known maxim illustrates a disturbing reality: Too often religion merely makes people feel better about themselves. Some say that religion is no more than a placebo, a deceptively ineffectual medicine, meant to fool the patient into having hope where no real hope exists. […]
On October 15, 1555, bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned as Protestant heretics under the reign of Queen Mary. Shortly before they were murdered, Latimer said, “Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” Although […]
I had not unpacked my suitcase in the freshman dorm at college before Christians descended upon me like mongrel hordes. One in particular was my Resident Advisor or “RA.” He was a senior (thus worthy of genuflection) and a leader in an evangelical organization on campus. His bookshelf was stuffed with the best of apologetical […]
1. Biased Sources Those who wrote the NT documents were "believers" and therefore biased. These texts are not historical documents but articles of faith. Rebuttal Everyone is biased. A lawyer building a case is biased in favor of his client, but that does not invalidate the evidence. What accounts for the particular "faith" of these […]
This issue of Modern Reformation is about conversation starters. We publish the magazine with the goal of suggesting conversations that are challenging, encouraging, and sometimes provocative’right at the point where the theology and spiritual life of the Protestant Reformation intersects with Christian life in the modern world. To lead off, Editor-in-Chief Michael Horton lays out […]
Over a decade ago, the U.S. military entered Somalia on a peace-keeping mission, but threats to troops and other factors gradually transformed it into a vague enterprise. A Washington Post writer working on that story coined the phrase "mission creep," which is a good analogy for what is happening in the church today. Just as […]
"Who is my neighbor?" the rich young ruler asked Jesus. The query was an attempt to deflect responsibility. Of course, I have a responsibility for my family, kinsmen, and fellow Jews, but surely not for the outcasts, the morally unclean, or the Gentile. No loophole, Jesus replied. Your neighbor is the one right under your […]
Bill Nikides has spent much of his adult life working in the Muslim world, engaging cultures and worldviews in North Africa, Egypt, the Middle East, and in Central, South, and East Asia. Regarded as a leading expert in Muslim ministry, specifically on Insider Movements and their impact on cultures, he is director of i2 Ministries […]
On a cold November day in 1095, Pope Urban II roused a Christendom plagued by internal wars to take up the cause of holy war against Islam. "If you must have blood," he exhorted, "bathe in the blood of infidels." With the conversion of Emperor Constantine in the early fourth century, Christian leaders had gone […]
When religion is shuttled off to its little island of irrational subjectivity, the leap of faith, when evangelism bases its appeal on personal experience and moral usefulness with the slogan "deeds, not creeds," when "I feel" edges out "we believe," and when churches target niche markets for spiritual consumers, we should hardly be surprised when […]
