James Fisher published a widely-read (and oft-reprinted) Exposition of the Shorter Catechism (1753). Ebenezer Erskine and others of the “Marrow Men”—that is, those who were the gospel-men in eighteenth-century Scotland (as opposed to the moralists of the time)—were also associated with it. . . . Continue reading →
How Lawsuits Work I am not a lawyer nor am I practicing law in this space. What follows should not be construed as legal advice but broadly there are two kinds of court cases: civil and criminal. The latter are tried by . . . Continue reading →
So far in this series we have considered four ways that Christians can engage secular politics in our time, between the ascension and return of Christ: Prayer, Organize, Persuade, Legislate, and Litigate. Certainly the first point, prayer, cannot be controversial, since Scripture . . . Continue reading →
The fourth of our five points of Christian citizenship is Legislate. Last time we considered briefly what it means to legislate, i.e., to draft and pass a law, but how does it happen? How does one become a legislator and how does . . . Continue reading →
One of the great errors of the American Christian Nationalists is that they have given up on the American project before they have actually attempted the act of citizenship. They complain endlessly about the so-called “post-World War II consensus,” which they never . . . Continue reading →
I have been laboring over the middle rubric of the POPLL agenda, namely persuasion, because it is much neglected and yet central to Christian social engagement in a democratic republic like the USA. I am also laboring over it because it is . . . Continue reading →
Since most of us have grown up with the Thanksgiving Holiday, it is easy for us to assume that this is the way things are and should be, but it has not always been so nor is it necessarily so. The American . . . Continue reading →
In this part of the series, we are considering the art of persuasion—that is, convincing our neighbors of views and policies that are for the improvement of the body politic. In order to persuade our neighbors, Christians need to make three distinctions: . . . Continue reading →
Today is St Augustine’s birthday (354 AD). In honor of his birthday, today’s Heidelquote is by St Augustine. 3. Therefore let the Church of Christ, the city of the great King, full of grace, prolific of offspring, let her say what the . . . Continue reading →
There are five points to the citizenship program for which I have been arguing. The third point is persuasion. Last time we looked at some of the challenges we face in persuading our neighbors to support policies and politics that, “under the . . . Continue reading →
Not everything that Christians do belongs to the visible, institutional church. Christians are free to organize in a variety of ways to accomplish social ends but Christ, the Lord of the Church, has given the visible, institutional church a very specific mandate and becoming a political action committee is not part of the church’s portfolio. Continue reading →
The third and central act of active citizenship is persuasion, i.e., leading (inducing) our neighbors to agree with us about temporal life. Just as we organize for the well being of society, so also we seek, through convincing evidence, clear logic, and . . . Continue reading →
The doctrine of the spirituality of the church holds that God has ordained distinct spheres in the Christian life. The family is one sphere of authority and administration. Secular life, i.e., that life that is common to believers and non-believers alike, is . . . Continue reading →
The second stage of active citizenship is organizing. Just as we pray for the well being of society, so also we work for it. This is a more important step than one might think because Christians too often simply assume that the . . . Continue reading →
As part of an essay on the attempt by the U. S. Postal Service to compel a man to violate his religious convictions by forcing him to work on the Christian Sabbath, I offered an alternative to a variety of popular but . . . Continue reading →
It teaches that in a Christian nation, that is, in a nation not without God, government as a servant of God is duty-bound to glorify his name and accordingly ought to (a) remove from administration and legislation anything that impedes the free . . . Continue reading →
Judging from the attention given to Stephen Wolfe’s The Case for Christian Nationalism, one could be excused for thinking it is a significant work of scholarship. But Wolfe’s book matters more for the stir it has created than for any weight it carries. One . . . Continue reading →
The noun tribe has no fewer than six senses in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).1 The first is the literal sense of a biological lineage—that is, a “group of people forming a community and claiming descent from a common ancestor; spec. each of . . . Continue reading →
Some of what took place in Paris beginning on August 24 can be explained by sociology and social history. There were real religious and social tensions in Paris and in Roman Catholic dominated towns in 1572. Paris itself was not yet spread out. There were about 210,000 people crowded together. Continue reading →
On August 22, 1572, Gaspard Comte de Coligny (1519–72), Admiral of France, bent to adjust his shoe or perhaps to open a letter. That unexpected movement saved his life. The bullet, fired by Charles de Louviers (d. 1583) from an upstairs window . . . Continue reading →