An old allegory tries to describe religion with the story of four blind men feeling an elephant. The blind man feeling the trunk thinks he is touching a long, thick creature. The one touching the elephant’s leg says he is touching a . . . Continue reading →
Three times in his discussion of the nature of virtue Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224–74) referred to Augustine’s AD 388 treatise against the Manichaeans, On The Morals of the Church (De moribus ecclesiae) regarding the “order of love.”1 Even though it was a . . . Continue reading →
As we start this series, the whole first line, “I believe in God the Father Almighty,” is too much to tackle in one go. As a way of introduction to the whole idea of studying the Creed, then, this article focuses on . . . Continue reading →
The Christian Nationalists have discovered a new toy: Augustine’s language about the “order of love” or the “order of charity” (ordo caritatis), and some of them are putting it to the service of racism and kinism.1 This calls for some explanation and . . . Continue reading →
What Hath Angels to Do With Baptism? For a homily on baptism, Tertullian sure talks about angels more than one might expect. What are we to make of it all? As with any historical figure, it is all too easy to impose . . . Continue reading →
Toward the end of the seminar, one pastor asked what I thought confessional Lutheranism could offer to the church catholic at this moment in time. My answer was threefold. …I went on to say that confessional Lutheranism, more specifically, has two particularly . . . Continue reading →
For good or for ill, I have a taste for shows about comic book heroes and science-fiction stories. The nature of the stories, character development, and plotlines necessarily invites the question: “What is this about?” What seems like relatively normal story development . . . Continue reading →
I was baptized as an infant. I was an adult when I wrestled with whether I should have been. Baptism has been a fairly controversial Christian issue for two thousand years if some are to be believed—or five hundred if others have . . . Continue reading →
Bonhoeffer may be the most famous German theologian to oppose Hitler and Nazism, but he was not the only one. Another who speaks to our times is Helmut Thielicke, a Lutheran theologian and pastor. Like Bonhoeffer, Thielicke was hounded by the Nazis, . . . Continue reading →
In Reformed and Presbyterian circles, a great deal of attention is given to the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards, and rightly so. Continue reading →
In Reformed and Presbyterian circles, a great deal of attention is given to the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards, and rightly so. Continue reading →
Approaching the one-thousand-year-old Oxford Castle and Prison from the east, at the corner of Castle St. and New Rd., the entire crosswalk is emblazoned with rainbow colors, indicating the Oxford city council’s solidarity with the local LGBTQ+ community. Continue reading →
Allusions to Reformation themes abounded in early American sermons. The Waldensians, the eradication of the French Huguenots, Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli were all referred to in Samuel Davies’ 1756 sermon, “The Mediatorial Kingdom and Glories of Jesus Christ.” Continue reading →
On this date, on the old calendar, Augustine of Hippo was born. Hippo is not his last name. It is the city where he served as bishop. The name of the town is funny in English, but it makes sense in Greek. . . . Continue reading →
An American sermon . . . on a choice morsel from the book of Revelation . . . associating corruption with hierarchies . . . and warning the church to resist sycophantic governments in league with that . . . Continue reading →
What is God’s view on certain political matters or events? That is a question often asked, and often mocked. Continue reading →
The great grandson of several New England families (John Cotton’s among them), Elisha Williams (1694–1755) graduated from Harvard in 1711. After a brief career of teaching and tutoring in 1722 he became the pastor of a congregational church in Wethersfield, Connecticut, prior to serving as the Yale rector from 1726–39. Continue reading →
Introduction Colonial thinkers Samuel Adams and Rev. Jonathan Mayhew argued against the innate goodness of man with implicit reference to King George III: “Ambition and lust for power,” they claimed, “are predominant passions in the breasts of most men. . . . . . . Continue reading →
On January 18, 2016 at Liberty University, a presidential candidate referred to a Bible passage1 in his talk, advising that Christianity was under siege. While such remarks may stir one’s passions, two centuries earlier, another speaker referred to that same passage with an entire sermon devoted to it. Continue reading →
While the long 19th century gave birth to a variety of intellectual movements, it also saw its fair share of anti-intellectualism. The fallout from the Second Great Awakening was one such example; this era of American religious life witnessed the rise of . . . Continue reading →