American Christianity

Straight Out Of Münster

by on June 10, 2019 | 5 Comments

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

by on February 28, 2019 | 16 Comments

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 →

New Film: American Gospel

by on October 20, 2018 | 2 Comments

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 →

What Kind Of A Reformation Do We Need?

by on June 19, 2018 | 47 Comments

One of the questions submitted to the Reformation conference last fall at the Lynden URC asks “in regards to the current state of the church, what is needed in terms of a Reformation?” That’s a great question. If we are talking about . . . Continue reading →

A Pulpit Is Not A Platform

by on June 2, 2017 | 12 Comments

A Pulpit Is Not A Platform Since the early 18th century, American Christianity has been dominated by personalities. George Whitefield, the Wesleys, and Jonathan Edwards feature prominently in any narrative of the history of eighteenth-century American Christianity. When we think of the . . . Continue reading →

On Memorial Day: All Christians Are Historians

by on May 29, 2017

In the United States, Memorial Day is day for remembering those who died in the service of the US military. It began as Decoration Day in 1868, on which day 5,000 people decorated the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington . . . Continue reading →

What David Saw Within Anglicanism

by on March 28, 2017 | 8 Comments

There was sometimes an expressed commitment to certain iconic traditions of Anglicanism that seemed to supersede the commitment to the gospel message and the primacy of Scripture. I began to perceive that many of Episcopalian background regard the traditions of Anglicanism as . . . Continue reading →

New From D. G. Hart: Damning Words: The Life And Religious Times Of H. L. Mencken

by on November 17, 2016 | 2 Comments

My copy arrived yesterday. Looking forward to it. The publisher (Eerdmans) says: “H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) was a reporter, literary critic, editor, author — and a famous American agnostic. From his role in the Scopes Trial to his advocacy of science and . . . Continue reading →

Face To Face Is Still Best

by on September 9, 2016 | 1 Comment

Perhaps as a result of the value they place on good sermons, church leadership and the style of worship services, many people – even in this age of technology – find there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction when seeking information about . . . Continue reading →