Hollinger speaks for many secularists in the academy, and we can learn from his perceptions and concerns. He is correct that establishmentarian Christianity has difficulty providing social and political equity in the presence of demographic diversification. So the best response is to . . . Continue reading →
Academic Stuff
Telling The Truth To A Skeptical Millennial Village
Most of the students I teach are so-called Millennials. A few generations ago Americans were raised by parents. Then they were raised by the television. This generation was raised by the computer and related (mostly mobile) media. As Thomas de Zengotita has . . . Continue reading →
Refusing To Land Is Not Humility
I use this analogy when explaining to my students why they have to take positions on difficult theological issues: women in ministry, image of God, election, etc. Every year I have at least some students who don’t want to land the plane. . . . Continue reading →
They Were Just Rose Bowl Queens
Despite the received opinion to the contrary, I do not believe that cult prostit,ution was practiced in Greek (and Roman) regions of the NT era. The evidence bought to support this institution in the cities of Corinth and Ephesus was found wanting . . . Continue reading →
Maybe Darryl Had A Point? Driscoll v. Catholic Creeds
I don’t know why people are not debating whether Driscoll should even be writing books. —Darryl Hart, “Tribalists All” Second, the Apostles’ Creed [sic] defines the Son as “begotten, not made.” The point was that something begotten was of the same substance . . . Continue reading →
Distance Ed: After The Hype
Tamar Lewin (HT: Kendrick Doolan) writes in Tuesday’s NYT “two years after a Stanford professor drew 160,000 students from around the globe to a free online course on artificial intelligence, starting what was widely viewed as a revolution in higher education, early . . . Continue reading →
Calvin’s Theology And Its Reception: A Review
What should we do with John Calvin? What if, on the way back from dinner, we drove through a wormhole into a parallel universe and found John Calvin sitting on our sofa when we arrived home? What would we do with him . . . Continue reading →
Grade Inflation And The Self-Esteem Economy
‘The median grade in Harvard College is indeed an A-,’ the school’s dean of education said today, according to the student newspaper. Even more stunning: ‘The most frequently awarded grade in Harvard College is actually a straight A.’ —Roberto A. Ferdman, “The . . . Continue reading →
The Synagogue As Pattern For Early Christian Worship
When comparing the worship of the early church with that of the synagogue, we labour under this disadvantage, that, if the primitive church had any liturgy, it has not been handed down to us; still, as far as we can ascertain anything . . . Continue reading →
Mystery Unveiled: The Crisis of the Trinity in Early Modern England
In the Reformation and in the period of Reformed orthodoxy, there was no question whether the Christian faith is true. There were great and important questions debated between the Reformed churches and theologians with the Roman communion, the Lutherans, the Anabaptists, and . . . Continue reading →
Subjectivism As Scholarship
The epistle to Diognetus is an anonymous writing of an uncertain date. …Its claim to be include among the apostolic fathers rests on custom rather than right, for it is probably later than any of the other writings in this group, and . . . Continue reading →
An Aggressively Inarticulate Generation
(HT: Sung Yeo)
Mortimer Adler On How To Read A Book (And Why)
Few books are as needed today as Mortimer Adler’s How To Read A Book. It might be an encouragement, however, before you read, or while you’re between chapters, to watch Adler and Charles Van Doren talk about different ways to read and . . . Continue reading →
Standard Reformed Polemics Against The Use Of Musical Instruments In Worship
But all light into, all perceptions of, this glory, all experience of its power, were, amongst the most, lost in the world. I intend, in all these instances, the time of the Papal apostasy. Those who had the conduct of religion could . . . Continue reading →
The Church’s Closed Canon By The Latter Half Of The Second Century
This is enough to show that it is quite wrong to contend that there was no concern for marking out or keeping inviolate the contents of the new covenant Scriptures in the second century, or to claim that there was no generally . . . Continue reading →
Cromwell: Simul Iustus Et Peccator
Judging by his serene expression, he certainly doesn’t look like a man who should have changed England’s politics, culture and history forever. I refer to Oliver Cromwell and his expression preserved for the ages in his death mask on display at Warwick . . . Continue reading →
The Irony Of The Coming Dark Age (Updated Again)
The old schoolbook story of the middle ages describes the entire period as the “dark ages.” Of course that’s rubbish. There was a period of chaos in the early medieval period but there were also periods of remarkable learning and the renewal . . . Continue reading →
New Article: Law And Gospel In Early Reformed Orthodoxy
Richard Muller recently celebrated his 65th birthday to mark that occasion and as part the 20th anniversary of the PhD program at Calvin Seminary, he was presented with a Festschrift (celebration book) in his honor. Jordan Ballor has the details on Opuscula . . . Continue reading →
Liberal Education, Religious Freedom, And Weak Arguments (Updated Again)
Originally Published October 8, 2013. Updates below. The University of South Florida is at the center of another debate about religious freedom (HT: David Murray). This time it involves a planned event at which Dr. Rosaria Butterfield, a former Lesbian, is to . . . Continue reading →
Is Republication Really That Confusing?
A pastor writing a Q&A column in a small Canadian religious newspaper answered a question about republication recently by writing “as a general rule, Reformed Christians agree that the Covenant of Works was established at the start with Adam, and with all . . . Continue reading →