Office Hours: Carl Trueman On Luther As Theologian Of The Cross

R. Scott Clark

on December 2, 2019

There are few figures more central to the history of the West than Martin Luther (1486–1546). Without him there would have been no Reformation, or at least it would have looked very differently. The confessional Protestant churches, i.e., Lutherans and the Reformed . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: The UMC Split Is Only A Symptom Of A Much Deeper Problem

R. Scott Clark

on January 8, 2020 | 8 Comments

It is odd, however, that this is the issue that has produced the division. Same-sex marriage has not become plausible or imperative by virtue of its own merits. It has only become plausible as a function of much wider and deeper shifts . . . Continue reading →

Christianity Is An Explanation Not An Analgesic

R. Scott Clark

on March 31, 2020 | 3 Comments

As Philip Rieff once commented, in past times people did not go to church to be made happy; they went to have their misery explained to them. If the Book of Common Prayer is a guide, that is understandable: Life in the . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: The Goal Of Critical Theory Is The Destruction Of Transcendent Truth

R. Scott Clark

on June 2, 2020 | 2 Comments

The essay reminded me of the many years I spent trying to understand the various approaches to culture that fall under the umbrella term of Critical Theory. Queer Theory is one of the most significant of these approaches. Wading through the pretentiously . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: Do We Need Another Mark Of The True Church?

R. Scott Clark

on August 26, 2020 | 6 Comments

The Reformers outlined several marks of the church: the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and, at times, godly discipline or biblical worship. Today, they would need to add another: constant apologizing to the world. Whether it is saying . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: Might You Be A Socinian And Not Know It?

R. Scott Clark

on November 21, 2020 | 4 Comments

Cut some of the leading evangelical writers of the last decades and they bleed Socinus—without even knowing his name. For example, Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, the most widely read text of its kind in English-speaking conservative evangelical circles, rejects eternal generation of . . . Continue reading →

The Post-Sacred Order Is A Post-Historical Order

R. Scott Clark

on December 1, 2020 | 2 Comments

Forgetfulness is now the curricular form of our higher education. This form guarantees that we, of the transition from second [sacred] to third [post-sacred] worlds, will become the first barbarians. Barbarism is not an expression of simple technologies or of mysterious taboos; . . . Continue reading →

Critical Theory Is Not Neutral

by R. Scott Clark on December 19, 2020

Christian advocates of critical theory frequently claim that it is a neutral tool to help us think through issue. That is not true. Continue reading →

Office Hours: Carl Trueman Explains Why The World Seems So Upside Down

Or Why It Seems Rude To Call Caitlyn, Bruce And Elliot, Ellen

R. Scott Clark

on February 1, 2021 | 4 Comments

If you are of sufficient age, you remember when Caitlyn Jenner was Bruce Jenner, one of the greatest Olympic Athletes in modern history. He won the gold medal in the Decathlon in the 1976 Olympics. If you are a little younger you . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: Why You Do Not Need Lent

R. Scott Clark

on February 17, 2021

The imposition of ashes is intended as a means of reminding us that we are dust and forms part of a liturgical moment when sins are ‘shriven’ or forgiven. In fact, a well-constructed worship service should do that anyway. Precisely the same . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: A New Pastoral Problem

R. Scott Clark

on March 5, 2021 | 4 Comments

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 →

Trueman: The Psalms Are Better For What Ails Us Than Critical Race Theory

R. Scott Clark

on May 15, 2021

Does critical race theory contain some truths? Yes. Neil Shenvi recently pointed this out. Does it offer helpful insights that cannot be better found elsewhere? I have yet to see any. Indeed, I consider the Psalter itself to offer a far better . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: Gay Pride Month Is A Window On The West

R. Scott Clark

on June 12, 2021

Pride month, and its commercial sponsors, is an appropriate key to understanding the priorities of the modern West. It celebrates hedonistic self-assertion. It mocks the values of the past. It uses the language of inclusion to exclude anybody who will not wholeheartedly . . . Continue reading →

Do Not Insist on Your Own Way

Harrison Perkins

on July 13, 2021 | 5 Comments

Recently, I have been reading Carl Trueman’s excellent newest book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Crossway, 2020), and listening to Christianity Today’s fascinating podcast about Mark Driscoll’s ministry, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. One thing that stood out to me, which I think captures an ongoing pastoral issue throughout the church, is the predominance of preferences. Continue reading →

Trueman On The Failure Of The Evangelical Elite To Understand The Cultured Despisers Of Religion Are Despisers Of Religion

R. Scott Clark

on October 16, 2021 | 3 Comments

There are times in history when Christianity feels its place in society coming under threat. As it finds itself pushed to the margins, two temptations emerge. The first is an angry sense of entitlement, an impulse to denounce the entire world and . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: The Sexual Revolution Will Be Televised

Heidelblog

on February 21, 2022 | 6 Comments

The appointment of Sam Brinton, a very public “queer” activist, to the U.S. Department of Energy is merely the latest sign of decadence in the dying culture of the West. Brinton, a man of such exotic and public perversions that I cannot . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: Expressive Individualism Is The Third “Great Awakening”

Heidelblog

on March 24, 2022

Years ago, Anthony Esolen pointed out that pedophilia and the free and easy attitudes toward sex in contemporary society share a common moral structure: both prioritize the sexual desires of adults over the welfare of children. The difference, of course, is that . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: We Have Gone Through The Looking Glass

Heidelblog

on April 7, 2022 | 1 Comment

Many of are familiar with books and movies whose plots revolve around central characters finding themselves trapped in a world where nothing behaves quite as they expect. Perhaps Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass might be the . . . Continue reading →

Trueman: It Is A Strange New World

R. Scott Clark

on April 30, 2022 | 2 Comments

Carl Trueman made a big splash by speaking uncomfortable truths to seemingly intractable power in The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Wheaton: Crossway, 2020). In Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution (Wheaton: Crossway, 2022), . . . Continue reading →

The Pride Flag And A Divided Movement

Heidelblog

on June 17, 2022

For a flag to be a powerful, sacred symbol of unity and purpose, it has to symbolize a real common sense of unity—a unified moral vision around which individuals can rally as part of a larger imagined community. That the Pride flag . . . Continue reading →

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