In his next session, Bob Godfrey resumes his talks on what happened to Christendom and how the church should adapt to a post-Christian world. In this series Bob seeks to understand why this contemporary world seems so strange. In this session he . . . Continue reading →
Jacob Aitken, sometime author at the HB, left the TheoRecon movement. What is that? TheoRecon is a shorthand word I coined (as far as I know) for the theonomic-Christian reconstruction movement. Now you know why I use TheoRecon instead. Short story: the movement . . . Continue reading →
Introduction Americans are an independent lot. In the secular sphere (e.g., politics and economics) that can be an admirable quality which contributes mightily to freedom and prosperity. In the sacred sphere (e.g., in the life of the church, in our spiritual and . . . Continue reading →
This year, at the height of what used to be called the Christmas season, a Pew Research Center poll on religion revealed that only slightly more Americans described themselves as Roman Catholics (21 percent) than as believers in “nothing in particular” (20 . . . Continue reading →
This is the eighth session of Bob Godfrey’s Adult Sunday School series at the Escondido URC. In this session he discusses the dramatic changes in American culture in the last few years wherein America has abandoned Christendom, a way of looking at . . . Continue reading →
One of the crucial questions in our current moment of governmental overreaches has to do with how we understand our rights as Christians living in this world. Many of our current discussions evidence a great misunderstanding of our calling as believers in . . . Continue reading →
This is the seventh session of Bob Godfrey’s Adult Sunday School series at the Escondido URC. In this session he explores the challenges faced by Christendom due to the Enlightenment and how it took shape in America. He argues that Christianity as . . . Continue reading →
In the sixth session of Bob Godfrey’s Sunday school class at the Escondido URC, he traces the effects of the Enlightenment upon the West. Drawing upon Carl Becker’s work he highlights four key tenets of the movement: (1) that man is not natively . . . Continue reading →
In just a few short years the noun Homophobia has become one of the most powerful words in the English language. It has an interesting, if brief, history. It was derived from the combination of two Greek loan words brought into English, . . . Continue reading →
On October 28, 2021 The Pew Research Center published another of their fascinating and illuminating polls. This one surveyed the attitudes of Americans on the relations between church and state. For our international readers the USA has a written constitution (other nations . . . Continue reading →
In this fifth session of Dr. Godfrey’s Sunday school class at the Escondido URC, he traces the long period of challenges to Christendom within Christendom, and the rise of the Enlightenment, which thought Christianity to be too focused on the world to come, . . . Continue reading →
The question of how Christians should relate Christ (i.e., their allegiance to Christ and the Christian faith) to culture is perhaps the most pressing challenge facing the Christians individually and the institutional, visible church. A subset of this question touches on how . . . Continue reading →
The Presbycast is one of my favorite podcasts and Harrison Perkins, a regular contributor to the Heidelblog, is one of my favorite writers and, in this episode, like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, the two come together: They are discussing Jeanne Halgren Kilde’s . . . Continue reading →
While many on the right default to accusations of cultural Marxism when confronted with such iconoclasm, I would argue that this latest trend is reminiscent of nothing so much as Friedrich Nietzsche’s haunting statement in Twilight of the Idols: “I fear we . . . Continue reading →
My kids got their COVID-19 shots yesterday. When my husband brought them home from Walgreens, he described it as a moment that felt sort of… holy. Parents were catching each other’s eyes, tearing up. Pharmacy employees exclaiming, ‘Congratulations!’ After so much hardship, . . . Continue reading →
In this fourth session of Bob’s Sunday school class at the Escondido URC, he explains what led to the collapse of Christendom. It began with Luther at Worms, in 1521. In his famous speech he presented a choice: to maintain Christendom, the powerful . . . Continue reading →
Jason Wilson, of the UK Guardian (a left of center paper) has published another story based on his investigation of the Kirk in Moscow, ID. Continue reading
In this third session of Dr. Godfrey’s Sunday school class at the Escondido URC, he develops how Christianity fared under Christendom. He explains the trajectory of challenges Christianity faced as it became wealthy and influential and, sadly, moved away from the gospel. . . . Continue reading →
My friend and colleague, Carl Trueman, has published another thoughtful piece in First Things,“Lessons From the Reformation’s Pamphlet War.” In this essay he makes an analogy between Twitter and the Reformation pamphlets that were so widely published and distributed during the Reformation. He . . . Continue reading →
As South Africa’s second-largest metropolis (after Johannesburg), Cape Town not only has a rich history but is also a melting pot of scenic views, cuisines, and skin colors. She boasts incredible beauty but also thrombotic veins of prejudice and inequality, which are . . . Continue reading →