When Dennis Bills, a West Virginian minister in the Presbyterian Church of America, received his author’s copy of A Church You Can See in 2017, he was writing to a church world certainly in need of the book’s subtitle: Building a Case . . . Continue reading →
Zwingli, God’s Armed Prophet is Bruce Gordon’s most recent contribution to Reformation history. Gordon is the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale University and formerly headed up the Saint Andrews Reformation Study Institute in Scotland. Professor Gordon is also affiliated . . . Continue reading →
Not all preaching is good preaching. Some preachers do not exposit the text when they preach on Sunday. Other preachers exposit the text in ways that fit their agendas. And some preachers simply do not have a Christ-centered approach to preaching. The . . . Continue reading →
Reading online is great. It is fast. It is convenient. It is accessible. There is still, however, a lot of important information that you cannot get from the Web. I am not writing against e-books, even though they too have weaknesses (e.g., . . . Continue reading →
While enjoying breakfast in a quaint diner with my family the other day, I observed another family sitting a few booths over from ours, finishing up their meal. Well, “sitting” is not exactly accurate. While the mother and father sat, engrossed in . . . Continue reading →
Nicholas A. Cumming is the Assistant Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University. Francis Turretin (1623–87) and the Reformed Tradition is an adaptation of his doctoral dissertation at King’s College London. Published in the St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History Series, the book . . . Continue reading →
Democratic education, says Aristotle, ought to mean, not the education which democrats like, but the education which will preserve democracy. Until we have realized that the two things do not necessarily go together we cannot think clearly about education. For example, an . . . Continue reading →
There are too many treatments of particular aspects of John Calvin’s theology. The proliferation of books and articles of course relates to Calvin’s large and varied writing corpus as well as his ongoing popularity, especially growing throughout the twentieth century. The problem . . . Continue reading →
In the last few years, we have seen a rise in the retrieval of historic Christianity. By “historic” Christianity, I mean, creedal, confessional, and catechetical: a communal dialogue of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The return to an . . . Continue reading →
If a survey were to be taken of Christians in America, a vast majority would probably never have heard of the French Reformer, Theodore Beza (1519–1605). For those actually familiar with him, they would likely fall into one of three camps. For . . . Continue reading →
It would take a sizable monograph to catalog all the books written about the Protestant Reformation. Many Reformed Christians undoubtedly have more than a few of these books on their shelves and could likely name at least a few more. Speaking of . . . Continue reading →
This is the final installment of a three-part review of Brent Parker and Richard Lucas’ new volume of essays wherein theologians representing traditional Reformed covenant theology, progressive covenantalism, progressive dispensationalism, and traditional dispensationalism interact on issues of continuity and discontinuity in redemptive . . . Continue reading →
This three-part series reviews the new multi-view collection of essays, edited by Richard Lucas and Brent Parker, concerning the unity of redemptive history as expressed in various forms of covenantal and dispensational theologies. Part one considered Michael Horton’s argument for traditional Reformed . . . Continue reading →
At my ordination, I took a vow that I hold the Westminster Standards “as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures,” expressing that these documents summarize the shape of biblical truth most accurately. This “system” of doctrine connects various . . . Continue reading →
Michael Kruger has written a gem of a book, addressing one of the most prominent issues troubling the church today. Increasingly, we are faced with stories about pastors who misuse their position of authority to achieve their own selfish ends to the . . . Continue reading →
The tensions and inconsistencies that I have attempted to illustrate in this book review beg another question: What kind of reformation is The Gift of Life after? The answer Professor Vorster appears to provide is one of “flourishing personhood” that roots out . . . Continue reading →
At this point it is worth asking: What informs Professor Vorster’s overarching moral vision? Throughout The Gift of Life, the contention is that definitions of human dignity found in the liberal democratic and human rights traditions can be translated into Christian value . . . Continue reading →
North-West University Professor J. M. Vorster’s The Gift of Life: Toward an ethic of human personhood (2021) represents a crowning of his career as a Reformed Pastor, theologian, and ethicist in the South African context.1 I review this volume as a fellow . . . Continue reading →
Country Music is a unique genre in terms of its Christian connections and interest in telling compelling stories. As a result, it faces up to the deep questions in life more often than other genres of music: it goes beyond mere love . . . Continue reading →
As Christians grapple with living in a world where sexual identity has become a fluid concept for many people, how can believers develop a solid understanding regarding what the Bible actually says about our sexuality? Thankfully, pastor and Abounding Grace Radio host . . . Continue reading →