Pride & Humility
Although they lived near each other along the border, the McCoys were in Kentucky and the Hatfields in West Virginia. Their infamous feud began when Asa Harmon McCoy returned from fighting for the Union in the Civil War and was murdered by some Confederate thugs calling themselves the “Wildcats.” A prominent member of the Hatfield […]
by Herman Witsiustranslated by Joseph A. Tipton The following is part 2 of a translation of a portion of De Theologo Modesto, an inaugural address delivered by Herman Witsius (1636–1708) to the students and faculty of Leiden University (part 1 was published in the July/August 2021 issue of Modern Reformation). Witsius held positions at Franeker […]
by Herman Witsiustranslated by Joseph A. Tipton The following is a translation of a portion of De Theologo Modesto, an inaugural address delivered by Herman Witsius (1636–1708) to the students and faculty of Leiden University. Witsius held positions at Franeker (1675–80) and Utrecht (1680–98) before receiving the invitation to join the faculty at Leiden, the […]
Every semester at some point or another, I gaze out at my students and tell them this: Sloth is the sin of your generation. Then, of course, I ask them what sloth means. The usual retort is “laziness.” But the sin of acedia—or, in its most common idiom, sloth—is not, as we commonly hear, merely […]
Jean M. Twenge is professor of psychology at San Diego State University and the author of more than 130 scientific publications and numerous books, including iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood; The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement with W. Keith […]
I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother,” David remarks in that little and profoundly deep Psalm 131. Quietude, calm, collected, consistent—these are not buzzwords in our culture. And over the past couple of months they have faded from our language almost entirely. It is interesting that in Psalm 131 […]
Humble Calvinism By J. A. Medders The Good Book Company, 2019 128 pages (paperback), $12.99 If you’ve been part of Western Christianity for the past fifteen or twenty years, you’ve probably run into a brand of Calvinism—or I should say Calvin-ist—that can’t easily be described as “humble.” It’s this issue that Jeff Medders confronts in […]
It is our Lord’s final night, the beginning of his finale. He knows the cup that awaits, he knows the betrayal and the pain, and he knows that we would be watching thousands of years later. What does he do? Through John’s eyes, we see how Jesus demonstrates the heart of the Bible: Jesus, knowing […]
Christians are used to a certain loneliness that comes with godliness. After all, Jesus told his disciples that they were to be not of the world (John 17:14). That means we must refuse to participate in sinful thinking and acting, and we should not be surprised when a culture at odds with God shuns us. […]
I am one of those tragic figures who is both a perfectionist and a procrastinator. I am such a perfectionist that the very idea of failure terrifies me to the core of my being. I am so afraid of doing things wrong that I am afraid to start, because I will probably not do it […]
If you want a good deed to really count, it has to be done with no thought of receiving something back in return. In technical terms, it's "disinterested benevolence." We have the ancient Stoics and the Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant to thank for the "stiff-upper-lip" approach to life. It has its pluses’there is a sense […]
In their widely acclaimed book The Narcissism Epidemic, authors Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell document the slow and steady growth of narcissistic attitudes, behaviors, and assumptions in various aspects of American life and culture. Reality TV both encourages and normalizes self-centered behavior. Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook encour-age us to post […]
You can have too much of a good thing, when it comes to self-esteem. In the past few years I've done a lot of speaking engagements at colleges and universities across the country, and I'll say to students, "My research finds that your generation is very narcissistic; this is what the data shows. What do […]
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 […]
