The deeper problem here is hermeneutical. O’Donovan—and following him, Smith—fail to give sufficient attention to the Bible’s covenantal storyline, and how that storyline affects the authority of church and state. Specifically, the lessons of the kingdom of Israel transmit directly to Christ . . . Continue reading →
Christ and Culture
The Addiction To Self-Righteousness
One of the several reasons that it is difficult to have a reasoned discussion about the events that transpired in Charlottesville is that the groups like neo-Nazis and the Klan provide such an almost irresistible opportunity for self-righteousness. The history of these . . . Continue reading →
The Happy Trap
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” So begins the second paragraph of the . . . Continue reading →
On Marrying Canaanites (2 Cor 6:14–7:1)
One of the great temptations faced by the Israelites as the entered the land of Canaan would be to absorb the Canaanite religion and thereby either to apostatize by becoming pagans or to attempt to synthesize Canaanite paganism with the biblical religion. . . . Continue reading →
Of Church Names, Christ, And Culture
The Foundry, Resonate, Relevant, The Bridge, and Passion City are just a few of the contemporary church names noted by Dennis Baker and mocked by Url Scaramenga in 2010. A search for “contemporary church names” brings up a wealth of resources offering . . . Continue reading →
Not A Question Of Taste But Of Principle
Mark Tooley, of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, weighs in on the June 25 patriotic worship service held by First Baptist Church in Dallas. First Baptist is the home of Robert Jeffress, whom you might know from his frequent appearances on . . . Continue reading →
Herman Hoeksema On The Twofold Kingdom
Hoeksema insisted that the Christian church, “as the manifestation of Christ’s body on earth, is universal in character; hence the church as an institution could not raise the American flag nor sing the national hymns.” The flag could be flown in the . . . Continue reading →
The Rule Of Worship, Christ And Culture, And Asparagus Fest
As near as I am able to determine, the first fellow in the procession is a minister in the Church of England. I infer this from his (Roman) clerical garb, from which I infer that he might also be sympathetic to the . . . Continue reading →
The Gospel For Discontent Millennials (And Everyone Else)
HB reader David wrote to ask about a social program in which his congregation is involved and his question is one that I get regularly. My reading and experience with Millennials, i.e., those born between 1982 and 2004, tells me that there . . . Continue reading →
Paul On The Sacred/Secular Distinction In 1 Corinthians 8–11
Over the last century it has become widely held among Bible-believing Christians that we ought not recognize a distinction between the sacred and the secular. A Google search for “sacred secular distinction” brings up plenty of examples of such a rejection. The . . . Continue reading →
Paul: Be Subject To Governing Authorities And Love Your Neighbor
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur . . . Continue reading →
On Turning The World Upside Down
Evangelical Christians are often charged to follow the Apostles by going forth to “turn the world upside down” for Christ. This is a powerful injunction because it captures a great truth: that the gospel message is unexpectedly and delightfully powerful. Continue reading →
Heidelcast 120: D. G. Hart On H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) was one of the most influential writers of the 1st half of the 20th century. He was a skeptic about religion but had a keen eye and a sharp tongue. It was he who described Sister Aimee’s religion . . . Continue reading →
Thanksgiving And Liquid Modernity
In the United States this last Thursday in November is our national day of Thanksgiving. This has been a national holiday since President Abraham made it so in 1863, in the midst of our Civil War. There had been, as Lee Edwards . . . Continue reading →
Polycarp Versus The Progressives
In 1973, Charles Merritt Nielsen imagined what might have happened had Polycarp (69–155 AD), the senior pastor of the Christian congregation in Smyrna (today Izmir, Turkey), adopted the rhetoric of the theological progressives, who look for approval from the broader, unbelieving world: . . . Continue reading →
D. G. Hart On CSpan Talking About American Evangelicals, Politics, And Mencken
You can see it here.
Van Til: A Christian Epistemology Does Not Mean We Cannot Borrow Categories And Vocabulary
It should be carefully noted that our criticism of this procedure does not imply that we hold it to be wrong for the Christian church to make formal use of the categories of thought discovered by Aristotle or any other thinker. On . . . Continue reading →
You’ve Been Invited To A [Fill In The Blank]: Should You Go?
As the culture descends further into post-Christianity and even the memory of Christianity fades in the minds of most Westerners, Christians will find themselves facing many of the same questions faced by the Christians of the first and second centuries. Many of . . . Continue reading →
On Distinguishing Christianity From The American Religion Of Optimism
Peale distilled the optimism and self-sufficiency of the American character into a simple creed. The first article of his faith was a warm patriotism. He called the U.S. “the greatest country in the world” and addressed his writing to “everyday people of . . . Continue reading →
On Self-Defense
A correspondent asked the other day for a brief account of the biblical doctrine of self-defense. Let us establish some fundamental truths. First, God is sovereign over all things. He is Creator and Redeemer but he administers creation under the sphere of . . . Continue reading →