One final note: whether you think this is a really good systematic theology or one of the most important in the last generation or two, probably depends on how much you get into tri-perspectivalism. I have friends who find Frame’s triads of . . . Continue reading →
Contemporary Evangelicalism
Riddlebarger On The Buzz Vs Reformation In The OC
Kim Riddlebarger spent his summer sabbatical profitably and one of the things he did was to write a series of fascinating posts on evangelicalism in Orange County, California during the 1970s—2013. It’s not an exhaustive account but it does illustrate well the . . . Continue reading →
Censorship By The Humorless And The Top Men
“And in a world where evangelical comment is increasingly censored from within by the humourless and the Top Men, a samizdat operation is unlikely to lose its purpose in the near future.”* —Carl Trueman, “On Mortification and Narnia” — * Samizdat = . . . Continue reading →
Carnell’s Ironic Critique Of Machen
The mentality of fundamentalism sometimes crops up where one would least expect it; and there is no better illustration of this than the inimitable New Testament scholar, J. Gresham Machen. Machen was an outspoken critic of the fundamentalist movement. He argued with . . . Continue reading →
What Fuller Says About Evangelicals: Nolo Contendere
The AP ran a story this past Sunday revealing that Fuller Seminary (Pasadena, California) has decided not to contest the formation of a homosexual student group on campus known as OneTable. Fuller’s policy says that marriage is between one man and one . . . Continue reading →
Engaging With Keller
Many now regard only one aspect of criticism, that of the expression of disapproval or hostility. There is, however, a second aspect that is equally important: the friendly analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of a project. This volume is . . . Continue reading →
Bog Standard Evangelicalism Circa 1962
I’m cleaning out my office and clearing out a great lot of books One of the volumes I found is Carl F. H. Henry, Basic Christian Doctrines (New York: Holt, Rhinehart, Winston, 1962). Included in this collection of very brief entries are G. . . . Continue reading →
Less A Problem of What the Spirit is Doing and More a Problem of What We Say
Part 2
In part 1, I began to sketch a case that for a way between neo-Pentecostalism/Charismatic piety and a sterile piety. Genuine, confessional Reformed piety is warm, Spiritual, and vital but we understand that the Spirit works through means (Word and sacraments). This . . . Continue reading →
Less A Problem of What the Spirit is Doing and More a Problem of What We Say
Part 1
Since the early 19th century American Christianity has been largely dominated by a revival of the original Anabaptist theology, piety, and practice. One can transpose much of what took place in the 19th century over the fist generation Anabaptists (1520s) and it . . . Continue reading →
Joel’s Not So Bad After All?
Mark Driscoll on Joel Osteen
UPDATED 14:02 5 Feb 2013 So says YRR (Young, Restless, and Reformed) leader Mark Driscoll in an interview (regarding his forthcoming book) published by the TGC: Q: You observe that “appreciated people” exchange grumbling for praying, competing for celebrating, bitterness for thankfulness, . . . Continue reading →
If Charles Finney Were Alive
He would sound a lot like this cat (HT: Rich Barcellos)
Mark Galli Reviews Bell on Hell
Galli writes, “but in raising such momentous issues, he has raised crucial questions that also must be asked. If universal salvation is true, why does Jesus not showcase it? Why is Jesus’ teaching characterized instead by a relentless focus on the last . . . Continue reading →
Colson Calls for Doctrinal Boot Camp: But Which Doctrine?
In 1994 Chuck Colson attempted to convince evangelicals that the decline of the culture was so precipitous that they needed to set aside the historic Protestant doctrine of justification in favor of an intentionally equivocal statement about how we are accepted by . . . Continue reading →
QIRE, Syncretism, Kingdom Confusion, and Evangelical Niceness
Andrée Seu of WORLD Magazine made a boo boo. She’s supposed to say that, as an evangelical, she disapproves of Mormonism but the temperature of Glen Beck’s religious fervor is so high that it wins the day. She writes:
Horton: To Be or Not to Be? Reformed Christianity And American Evangelicalism
Somewhere along the way, however, the evangel became increasingly separated from evangelism; the message became subservient to the methods. Today, it is taken for granted by many that those most concerned about doctrine are least interested in reaching the lost (or, as . . . Continue reading →
Review: Souls in Transition
Dale Van Dyke is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California and a pastor of Harvest OPC in Wyoming, MI. He has review today of Christian Smith’s latest. Myth: Young adults are into spiritually but not religion. This hoax has been promoted most . . . Continue reading →
Sovereign Consumer vs the Sovereign God
Chris Gordon has been “off-roading” lately and has made some interesting discoveries about the nature of late-modern evangelical worship.
On The QIRE There's No Place to Stop
If the heart of the Christian faith and life is the unmediated encounter with God, even divinization (theosis), then how does one prevent a synthesis of evangelical pietism and New Age spirituality if the latter offers such access? According to this piece . . . Continue reading →
RCA Prof Predicts Demise of the RCA (and the CRC)
Donald A. Luidens is a sociology prof at Hope College and he’s written a provocative and interesting essay in Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought (which I think is descended from the old Reformed Journal) in which he argues that loss of . . . Continue reading →
Packer on the Reality of Hell
As Martin notes, for a time (and perhaps still?) it was fashionable for British evangelicals (and others) to deny the historic Christian doctrine of hell. J. I. Packer responded in 1991 and Martin has posted the audio.