Arguably the one of the greatest challenges that the church has faced has been how to relate to the prevailing culture. This was true before Christendom, when Christians were mostly ignored. It was true when we were being actively persecuted and martyred . . . Continue reading →
Introduction In researching the essay on sola scriptura I found myself reading the 44 articles of the Synod of Bern, which was held January 9–14, 1532. In attendance were 230 delegates, including Wolfgang Capito (c. 1478–1541) and William Farel (1489–1565). Two things . . . Continue reading →
Introduction: What Sola Scriptura Is and Is Not Recently, in a couple of places (online and in print) I have run across the claims, which, in different ways question the Reformation bona fides of the slogan and doctrine, sola scriptura. In one place an . . . Continue reading →
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) is a key source, with his provocative notion that human learning—the “arts and sciences” of his First Discourse—is actually that which corrupts us and hinders us being truly ourselves. Uncultured instincts and feelings are really who we are; civilization . . . Continue reading →
… How have we arrived at a place where students on elite college campuses perceive objective truth as a threat to personal safety and authentic selfhood? The answer is intersectionality, an analytical tool introduced in humanities and social science departments in U.S. . . . Continue reading →
It is always fun to talk with the Presbycast guys. Tonight we talked about a wide range of issues. We started by discussing Chortles’s discovery of an online copy of the last number of Presbyterian and Reformed News from 2004. That issue . . . Continue reading →
In my classroom the quickest way to fail an assignment or possibly even the entire course is to cite Wikipedia as an authoritative source. I have been expressing concern about Wikipedia as a reliable source for information for almost as long as . . . Continue reading →
Since the arrival of the capital M Modern world, beginning in the mid-17th century, one of the persistent points of friction between orthodox Christianity and Modernity has been the Christian doctrine that Jesus is the only way to heaven and eternal life. . . . Continue reading →
That this Author saith, God commanded those that transgressed his holy Law with an high hand, and presumptuously to be killed, lest they should live and profane his holy things; I defend not: But sure Erastus erreth, who will have all such . . . Continue reading →
Judicial laws may be judicial and Mosaical, and so not obligatory to us, according to the degree and quality of punishment, such as in Deuteronomy 13, the destroying the city, and devoting all therein to a curse; we may not do the . . . Continue reading →
The internet is both a marvel and a curse. One marvel is that through it, we can, if we will, time travel. This occurred to me after listening to an episode of the Presbycast in which someone mentioned City Church of San . . . Continue reading →
XI. Mary is rightly called the Mother of God (theotokos) in the concrete and specifically because she brought forth him who is also God, but not in the abstract and reduplicatively as God. Although this is not expressly stated in the Scriptures, . . . Continue reading →
…you can grow up with everything and still have nothing. Matt Purple, “Elizabeth Wurtzel, Trad,” The American Conservative February 26, 2020. Warning: Language.
5:22 αἱ γυναῖκες τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ (hai gynaikes tois idiois andrasin hōs tō kyriō), “Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord.” The elision of the verb ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō) links this verse closely with the general . . . Continue reading →
A correspondent wrote to ask for help thinking through how to respond to the arrival of a large evangelistic event in his town. This is my reply slightly revised for the HB. Continue reading →
H. Richard Niebuhr (1894–1962) is the slightly less famous younger brother of Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). The latter was a favorite of two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. The former is most famous for his 1951 book, Christ and Culture, though his early work, The Social Sources of Denominationalism (1929) and The Kingdom of God in America (1937) remainfluential. In the latter he perfectly characterized liberal Christianity as that in which “A God without wrath brought men without sinto a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” In Christ and Culture he offered a taxonomy of Christian approaches Continue reading →
Doubtless the one of the most significant movements within evangelicalism at the moment is the “emergent” or “emerging churches” movement. The adjectives “emerging” and “emergent” designate different wings of the movement. Generally, the “emergent” wing is more radical and the “emerging” wing a little less radical. Just as frequently, however, in the contemporary rhetoric from both wings of the movement no distinction is made and this essay will speak of the “emerging movement” (hereafter, EM). Like their older evangelical brothers and sisters, the EM also rejects (at least elements of) fundamentalism and revivalism. In their place, they are constructing a cross-traditional, eclectic synthesis. Continue reading →
The following essay is written by Chris Smith, (B.A. History, Thomas Edison University; MDiv, Westminster Seminary California). He is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Historical Theology at WSC. He’s a native of Nebraska (Go Big Red!) and hopes to . . . Continue reading →