VII. (3) By parity, the necessity of baptism is the same as that of circumcision. Now circumcision was to be administered to infants according to the command of God. Therefore also infant baptism. The truth of the major is proved (a) because . . . Continue reading →
The Media, Flyover Country, Betsy DeVos, The New Yorker, And The Truth
On Wednesday of this week, Jane Mayer published what is known in the journalism business as a “hit piece” in The New Yorker on Betsy DeVos, whom president-elect Trump has nominated to become the Secretary of Education. Mayer begins “dirtying up” DeVos . . . 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 →
After The Wikileaks Emails There Is No Question
Somehow, large parts of our civil society have succumbed to that base but instinctive drive in people to lord it over others. That drive, as always, motivates those who tend to seek the reins of power. History is filled with unsavory characters . . . 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 →
Turretin Answers Objections Against Infant Baptism (2)
VI. To no purpose is the reply: (1) “Hence it would follow that the Lord’s Supper should also be administered to infants because the thing signified belongs to them.” Although the same thing is signified in both, still there is a difference . . . Continue reading →
Church Or Conventicle? (Updated)
Turretin Answers Objections Against Infant Baptism (1)
IV. Nor ought it to be objected that Christ puts instruction before baptism and so speaks of adults, who can be instructed, and not of infants (“teach [μαθητεύσατε],” he says). Although Christ placed teaching before baptism, this must be referred to the . . . Continue reading →
The Shifting Culture Of Christian Colleges
And what about Christian colleges? They should be in the business of educating evangelical citizens. Unfortunately, most of them have sacrificed civics, humanities, and liberal arts to professional programs, online classes, continuing education, and cash-cow graduate programs. Yes, evangelical Christian colleges still . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 119: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (14)
This series has really been about how to interpret Scripture. Christians study the same Bible, but we often read it differently. Sometimes we begin with different assumptions about the nature of things and authority. These different methods and starting points lead to . . . Continue reading →
Resources On A Covenantal Approach To The Christian Life
Chris writes to the HB to ask about moving from the conversionist paradigm for the Christian life to the covenantal vision for the Christian life, how does a “covenantal” approach to the Christian life appear? This is an important question. Since the . . . Continue reading →
Archie And Meathead On Socks And Shoes
The Oxford Dictionaries’ Word Of 2016: “Post-Truth”
The BBC reports that the word of the year for 2016 the compound “post-truth.” Oddly, however, there is no entry in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for “post-truth.” It does not occur in my computer’s Oxford American Dictionary. Nevertheless, apparently, in some . . . Continue reading →
New From D. G. Hart: Damning Words: The Life And Religious Times Of H. L. Mencken
My copy arrived yesterday. Looking forward to it. The publisher (Eerdmans) says: “H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) was a reporter, literary critic, editor, author — and a famous American agnostic. From his role in the Scopes Trial to his advocacy of science and . . . Continue reading →
The Reformation Was Not A “Modern” Event
It is widely held and assumed that the Reformation was a modern event. Reformation studies, where they still happen in state-funded universities, are nearly always categorized as “early modern.” Historians of the 16th and 17th centuries regularly describe themselves as scholars of . . . Continue reading →
Luther For Children (And Adults)
Quietly but wonderfully over several years Simonetta Carr has been producing a stream of high-quality, well-written, wonderfully illustrated children’s books. Her latest is a biography of Martin Luther (1483–1546) and it is no exception. It appears just in time for the 500th . . . Continue reading →
Let The Church Be The Church
I imagine, dear reader, that you and I were both distressed to see Secretary Clinton, as a candidate for the presidency, standing in the pulpit of a Christian congregation during this past election cycle but were we upset for the same reasons? . . . Continue reading →
An Undergrad Replies To Social Justice Warriors
But the SJW movement is so hopelessly confused and maddeningly fickle that the prospect of their rising powers of censorship is nothing short of terrifying. Not satiated by the traditional right-wing targets of progressive indignation, they eat their own: feminists who criticize . . . Continue reading →
Affirming Grace And Denying It In The Same Breath
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren to believe in Christ and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. 2 . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours Season 8: Reformation 500—How Martin Luther Became A Protestant
The medieval and late medieval Christian lived in a theological world in which salvation was merely possible and never certain either in this life or in death. It was never more uncertain than it was in the two centuries leading up the Reformation. Continue reading →