I grew up in the church. Some of my favorite memories come from the time I spent there — Sunday school, AWANA, VBS, youth group, and fellowship meals. For hours we would play hide-and-seek, run up and down hallways, and occasionally sneak . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
Sarah Edwards’ Encounters With The Divine (Or Neglected Aspects Of The First Great Awakening)
The “extraordinary affairs” at at home referred to the beginnings of what was among the most revealing episodes in the whole Edwards saga. On Wednesday morning, January 20, 1742, Sarah Edwards was enraptured by a spiritual ecstasy that continued for more than . . . Continue reading →
What I learned About Courage And Fidelity From A Farmer
Unlike Father Neuhaus, I guess few readers of this space will know who Henk Navis was, but he died today. Henk did not participate in any famous negotiations with anyone. He did not leave one communion for another. He wasn’t celebrated or . . . Continue reading →
It Is All Sola Gratia, Sola Fide
From first to last, the Christian life is a life of faith. At no point can fleshly works do anything to move the soul one inch closer to God. Do you believe this? I am not sure that all of us do. . . . Continue reading →
Riddlebarger: 2 Chronicles 7:14 Is Not A Promise To The USA
The claim that “God is on our side” usually surfaces when politically active American evangelicals see themselves in another skirmish in the ongoing culture war–contending with secular-progressives for the soul of the nation in a Manichean struggle between good and evil. In . . . Continue reading →
Why You Should Get Your Child Out Of Public School
Note: Things are only getting worse in the public schools across the USA. When I first addressed this it was out of alarm about the amazing but largely ignored problem of sexual predators roaming the halls in public schools across the USA. . . . Continue reading →
Trueman: A New Pastoral Problem
ast week, a pastor friend told me about a new problem he is facing in his congregation. I hesitate to call it a “first world pastoral problem” because that runs the risk of trivializing it, of making it seem akin to those . . . Continue reading →
Choose Wisely
One of the country’s largest adoption and foster care agencies, Bethany Christian Services, announced on Monday that it would begin providing services to L.G.B.T.Q. parents nationwide
Religious Liberty Watch: SCOTUS Affirms 6–3 “South Bay” vs. Ninth Circuit
Application (20A138) granted by the Court. The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is granted pending disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition . . . Continue reading →
Will Christians Be Taken In A Secret Rapture?
As a young and newly converted evangelical, I was quickly introduced to the evangelical pop sub-culture that included Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). In 1969 the famous CCM artist Larry Norman released “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” …The premise of the song . . . Continue reading →
The Myth Of The Bell Rope
Events described by the author of the Savage manuscript, in other words, provide an opportunity to reimagine Edwards as an active promoter of the most radical dimensions of the evangelical new birth experience—a figure who, during the early months of the Awakening, . . . Continue reading →
The First Great Awakening: “A Confus’d But Very Affecting Noise”
It is difficult to imagine. Jonathan Edwards countenancing the “Confus’d, but very Affecting Noise” that erupted in Suffield, Massachusetts, on July 6, 1741. Yet there he stood, his loud voice rising in prayer above the din that emanated from an assembly of . . . Continue reading →
The Synopsis Of Purer Theology On The Law And The Gospel
While it is from the Law (about which we disputed above) that we come to know the contagion and defect of our spiritual illness, that is, of sin, it is from the Gospel that we learn the remedy for it. …In the . . . Continue reading →
What The Biden Administration’s “Equality Act” Would Do
Witness the so-called Equality Act, which candidate Biden vowed to make a priority and which is set to be voted on by the House this week. What’s the Equality Act? And who could be against equality? Don’t let the name fool you. . . . Continue reading →
Critical Theory Is A New Species Of Gnosticism
Now, what Voegelin saw in these ideologies is manifestly present in Critical Race Theory and the rest of the “woke” insanity now spreading like a cancer through the body politic. But it is also to be found in certain tendencies coming from . . . Continue reading →
Did Public Education Really Introduce Mass Literacy?
Most Americans were illiterate before the creation of our public education system in the 1830s. That seems to be a popular assumption, but is it true? If you’re looking for statistics, they’re notoriously hard to get when it comes to literacy rates . . . Continue reading →
41% Of Americans Report Online Harassment Because Of Their Religious Affiliation
Some 41% of U.S. adults have been harassed online in at least one of six ways covered in a Pew Research Center survey conducted in September 2020. Those who have been subjected to these experiences cite a number of reasons for why . . . Continue reading →
Advice To Young Preachers
Time was that church historians also taught church polity and what is sometimes called pastoral theology. This was, I suppose, because we used to recognize that the study of the history of the practice of the church gives a certainsight into how . . . Continue reading →
Riddlebarger: In Honor Of Warfield’s Centenary
B. B. Warfield died of an apparent heart attack on February 16, 1921. I thought it might a fitting tribute to talk about Warfield bibliography. One hundred years after his death, Warfield’s collected works are still readily available: The ten-volume “Oxford” set . . . Continue reading →
In A Shocking About Face Some Americans Want To Go Back To The Pre-Civil Rights Era
I ask that Smith College stop reducing my personhood to a racial category. Stop telling me what I must think and feel about myself. Stop presuming to know who I am or what my culture is based upon my skin color. Stop . . . Continue reading →