Two Kingdoms
In 1994, Klaus Schmidt discovered a temple in southwestern Anatolia (Turkey) that dates back almost 10,000 years—the earliest Neolithic period, just after the last ice age. As usual, he said, “First comes the temple, then the city.” Human beings are innately religious. We know this from Scripture, of course. In Romans 1, Paul explains that […]
Duplex Regnum Christi: Christ’s Twofold Kingdom in Reformed TheologyBy Jonathon D. BeekeBrill, 2020272 pages (paperback), $64.00 As Christians who identify with the Reformation traditions have wrestled with Christian social responsibility and the Christian’s place in the public square, few topics have generated more controversy than the nature of Christ’s rule and kingdom. For readers interested […]
There’s this town I know that’s got great public spirit. Boy Scouts is a big deal. The country clubs are nice. The Rotary Club owns the town, they say, and the Kiwanis runs it. The United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Cathedral, and the big Presbyterian Church are full on Christmas and Easter. The Republicans and […]
Not contentedness but more power; not peace but war; not virtue but fitness.” So wrote Friedrich Nietzsche in his Der Antichrist. For most Christians, such a bold assertion will sit ill at ease for them, to understate the matter. This push for power by means of might and combat is not easy to marry with […]
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18–19). With these words, […]
Exiled from the land, the Jews were exhorted by the Lord to use their days wisely. God prosecuted his case against Judah by giving the prophet Jeremiah a letter to read to the exiles (Jer. 29). Babylon was not their home, to be sure, but they were not to spend these years wringing their hands, […]
White Horse Inn radio cohost Michael Horton interviewed Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto, former religion editor of United Press International, international columnist, and Lutheran lay theologian. He is also a Senior Distinguished Fellow of 1517 The Legacy Project. WHI: Please tell us the story about how you came back to your Lutheran upbringing. US-N: This was in […]
Dr. Lee’s gracious and penetrating response greatly contributes to this discussion, and I’m grateful for the time he’s devoted to deciphering my view (which, I admit, is unique in its approach and a bit confusing in its language). I’m also grateful to Modern Reformation for granting me the space to respond. Since Dr. Lee devotes […]
What I like most about Stephen Wolfe’s proposal above is that it comes in sheep’s clothing. Seriously. Allow me to say how grateful I am to be having this conversation and to be reading fresh, new, and creative engagement on a well-worn topic. This is saying a lot when you address a debate where the […]
Debates between neo-Calvinists and Reformed two-kingdom advocates have revealed a seemingly irreconcilable divide on the Christian’s relationship to culture and politics. Many neo-Calvinists see the gospel as inaugurating a social and political project, one that was recovered alongside the truths of soteriology at the Reformation. Nicholas Wolterstorff, a neo-Calvinist philosopher, has argued that “the responsibility […]
Few issues have generated more heated debate in modern Reformed circles than the discussions currently taking place about two-kingdom theology. Books have been written disparaging learned theologians and pastors for taking the wrong position. Presbytery exams that take up the issue threaten to devolve into shouting matches among elders in the church. Facebook comments on […]
When it comes to Christian engagement with culture in its various forms, many Reformed and evangelical Christians have turned to the legacy of Abraham Kuyper (1837’1920). As modernism engulfed the Dutch Reformed Church, he led the founding of the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands and wrote weighty theological tomes. While emphasizing the irreconcilable antithesis between […]
Analyzing the Social Political Activism of the Black Church in Light of the Two-Kingdoms Motif
Let me begin by attempting to explain what I mean by "the black church" as it will be used in this article. Throughout, what I will be referring to is that entity, regardless of denomination or theological underpinning, that defines its purpose according to the ethos and pathos of the first black congregations in the […]
In the context of the clash of European empires for the American colonies, Presbyterian preacher Samuel Davies (1723-61) turned the colonists’ attention to Christ’s kingdom as “the best refuge from this boisterous world” of violence and domination.1 “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said, as much as to say, “I do not deny […]
In recognition of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, Modern Reformation editors have solicited essays from a number of authorities on Calvin's life and work. Not all of our writers are "Calvinists" (that is, they would not all necessarily agree with him or follow in his theological footsteps), but each has identified a particular […]
