In the fall semester I teach two courses on the ancient church. One is a seminar in which we read the Apostolic Fathers (a somewhat arbitrary collection of texts from the second century) as well as other important writers from the period. . . . Continue reading →
One of the more interesting questions we face each semester arises when we get to the Shepherd of Hermas, which was a wildly popular but almost certainly heretical text from (probably) the mid to late-second century A.D., is why it was so . . . Continue reading →
Why is it so difficult for Evangelicals to make the transition from evangelical “praise and worship” services to the more restrained and, dare I say it, dignified Reformed worship services? Any pastor of a Reformed church can tell stories about evangelicals, particularly . . . Continue reading →
On reflection, it is rather amazing that an obscure Augustinian monk from a German backwater, teaching in an obscure school, was able to turn the Holy Roman Empire on its ear. Just as amazing is the fact that the greatest known powers . . . Continue reading →
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a lesson, a revelation, a foreign language, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a foreign language, let there be only two . . . Continue reading →
What difference should the visible church make in the broader culture? How significant should it be? How one answers this question tells us something about how one views the relations between Christ and culture and the evident death of Christendom. Defining Christendom . . . Continue reading →
To the nomist, any anti-nomist seems antinomian Continue reading
To follow up on the earlier essay on Christ and culture, I want to make a further observation about the importance of creation or nature as a category of thought. When many conservative Christians think of creation, the first thing they think . . . Continue reading →
Shane Rosenthal is a former student, an old friend, and was the long-time producer of the White Horse Inn. He has a new podcast and it is outstanding. There are a lot of podcasts from which to choose but you only have . . . Continue reading →
There may be no more pressing issue before Christians (as individuals) and the visible church (as a corporate body) than the question of Christ and culture. Much of what concerns us all just now goes back, in one way or another, to . . . Continue reading →
Since David VanDrunen published, in 2010, the first volume in what has become a series of important volumes, Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought, Emory University Studies in Law and Religion (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), there has been a certain degree of controversy in some quarters of the confessional Reformed world over the recovery of the “two kingdoms” as a way of thinking about Christ and culture and ethics. Continue reading →
Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order . . . Continue reading →
When the theonomy movement initially began to gain steam, Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist who had campaigned as a “born again” Christian, was part way through his first and only term in the White House. Three years before that, the Supreme Court . . . Continue reading →
For the promise is to you and to your children and to all those who are far away, as many as the Lord our God shall call. 1 This passage is an important text in the Reformed understanding of the continuity of . . . Continue reading →
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD‘S army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so (Joshua 5:13–15; ESV). Continue reading →
Our comparison and contrast of the WCF with the 2LC continues through chapter 9, “Of Free Will.” A word of explanation about this language is in order. In 2022, when we hear or read the phrase “free will,” we might be tempted to . . . Continue reading →
Christian men do not have more of the Holy Spirit than do Christian women. Continue reading
Was there a more un-sanctified and immature congregation of which we have an apostolic record than the Corinthian congregation? From a reading of Paul’s two canonical letters to them they were beset by power struggles and schisms within, tolerant of gross immorality, . . . Continue reading →
This is a classic case of begging the question, i.e., assuming what has to be proved. People regularly say that amillennialism is “pessimistic” but postmillennialism is “optimistic.” Who is pessimistic about what? Define pessimism. Who says? By what standard? I say that amillennialism . . . Continue reading →
The Roman soldier handled Perpetua roughly. There was no question who was in charge. He took her before the Captain to be questioned and then to the Procurator. The procedure was simple. He asked her one question three times: “Are you a . . . Continue reading →