It is difficult to imagine. Jonathan Edwards countenancing the “Confus’d, but very Affecting Noise” that erupted in Suffield, Massachusetts, on July 6, 1741. Yet there he stood, his loud voice rising in prayer above the din that emanated from an assembly of . . . Continue reading →
American Christianity
I’ve Had It With Organized Religion
Had I a nickel for every time someone has said “I’ve had it with the church” or “I’ve had it with organized religion” as they walked away from the visible church, I could retire the national debt. Walking away from the visible . . . Continue reading →
41% Of Americans Report Online Harassment Because Of Their Religious Affiliation
Some 41% of U.S. adults have been harassed online in at least one of six ways covered in a Pew Research Center survey conducted in September 2020. Those who have been subjected to these experiences cite a number of reasons for why . . . Continue reading →
Why I Am A Christian
The State Of Christianity In America The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about . . . Continue reading →
Kim Riddlebarger On Orange County As A Burned Over District
The very fact that Robert H. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral is now “Christ Cathedral”–home to Rome’s OC diocese–points to a degree of change which is absolutely unfathomable to those of us who lived through this tumultuous and exciting time. Robert Schuller–the great “possibility . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 172: With D. G. Hart On American Catholic: The Politics Of Faith During The Cold War (Updated)
What can confessional Presbyterian and Reformed folk learn from the history of Roman Catholicism in America? Quite a lot as it turns out. We are continuing our brief hiatus from the series, As It Was In The Days of Noah to talk with . . . Continue reading →
Of QAnon, Calvin, And the LA Times
It is a deep animus that would seek to tie John Calvin (1509–1564) to the QAnon-fueled wackos who stormed the American capitol earlier this month but that is what Richard Hughes tries to do in a recent editorial in the Los Angeles . . . Continue reading →
Bringing In 2021 With the Presbycast
New Years Eve was noisy in Escondido but the fireworks really started when I joined Chortles Weakly (Brad Isbell) to help bring in 2021 with the Presbycast. We had fun with sound effects and general goofiness as our dogs both cowered (and . . . Continue reading →
Jon Payne: The PCA Is In Trouble
A growing number of our ministers and churches are conforming to the world’s values, attitudes, and ideals, especially as it concerns homosexuality and the social gospel. The future doesn’t look good for the PCA. Frankly, the future looks pretty bad, and I’m . . . Continue reading →
Warning About A Secret Organization In A Conservative Presbyterian Denomination
Very few laymen are aware of the fact that over the last 15 years there has been a secret organization in our Church working quietly behind the scenes to gain control of the political machinery of our denomination. This group, composed mostly . . . Continue reading →
The Strange Persistence Of Theocracy In America
It is a deeply-held conviction among more than a few American Christians that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that it was such until relatively recently. Further, it is widely thought that if only there were a religious . . . Continue reading →
An Appreciation Of J. I. Packer And A Dissent
On 17 July, 2020 J. I. Packer (b. 1926) went to be with our Lord. Like Carl Trueman I am thankful for Packer. As a young evangelical, Packer and John R. W. Stott saved me from the mindless evangelicalism toward which I . . . Continue reading →
“American Gospel: Christ Alone” Is Now On Netflix
For far too many American and global Christians, the “prosperity gospel” is all they know of Christianity. For far too many Christians what the Scriptures actually teach about the law and the gospel is almost entirely unknown. Their leaders and influences are . . . Continue reading →
Hart On The Intractable Problem Of Defining Evangelical
Key to Kidd’s strategy is definition. He characterizes evangelicals as “born-again Protestants who cherish the Bible as the Word of God and who emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.” [4] Conversion, Scripture, and experience of the Holy . . . Continue reading →
What Christians Can Learn From The Decline Of Judaism In American
And think about this whenever progressives — such as we are dealing with in US Orthodox Christianity — say that we have to get with the times, and change our faith and practice to make it more suitable for contemporary America. But . . . Continue reading →
Trueman: The UMC Split Is Only A Symptom Of A Much Deeper Problem
It is odd, however, that this is the issue that has produced the division. Same-sex marriage has not become plausible or imperative by virtue of its own merits. It has only become plausible as a function of much wider and deeper shifts . . . Continue reading →
Video Available Now: American Gospel: Christ Crucified
The second installment in the American Gospel film series is available now. Brandon writes: The gospel message of “Christ crucified” has always been offensive. In our culture it is common for preachers to soften the offense of the cross, and the attributes . . . Continue reading →
Guelzo: “The 1619 Project Is Not History; It Is Ignorance“
So, let us speak of slavery. The American republic inherited slavery from the British empire, in much the same way that it inherited its fiscal poverty, its lack of manufacturing capability, and its primitive infrastructure. We expected to overcome all of these . . . Continue reading →
Straight Out Of Münster
I think I first read about “web logs” about 1995, when I was teaching at Wheaton College. Then they were the domain of people writing about what they had for breakfast. They were daily, public journals where people recorded online their most . . . Continue reading →
Swaim: Machen Was Right
In 1923, a young assistant professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary named J. Gresham Machen published a scathing critique of the worldview animating establishment or “mainline” Protestant Christianity in Europe and America. That worldview, Machen argued in Christianity and Liberalism, . . . Continue reading →