A vicar (certain Anglican ministers are given the title) in the UK has banned the Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” because it doesn’t represent the current strife in modern day Bethlehem. This, of course, is the most stupid sort of . . . Continue reading →
docetism
We Are Not Polishing Brass On A Sinking Ship
More than 30 years ago, when I first came into contact with Reformed theology, piety, and practice (the Reformed confession broadly defined), I also came into contact with a movement within the Reformed world known as “Christian Reconstructionism” and its child “theonomy.” . . . Continue reading →
Nature, Gender, Rage, The Emperor’s Clothes, And Evangelical Docetism
The controversy over transgendered bathrooms is really a symbol of the success of subjectivism. Hans Christian Anderson (1805–75) anticipated this crisis in the early 19th century and told us a story about the “Emperor’s New Clothes.” If ever there was a parable for this age, this is it. In it people are told repeatedly to deny their sense experience in favor of political correctness. A small boy, however, unaware of the potential socio-economic consequences (or the rage of the LGBT lobby) of telling the truth, speaks truth to power to the everlasting shame of the adults. So it is in our time. The Transgender Emperor has the wrong clothes. Continue reading →
Christian, Why Do You Sing A Swedenborgian, Social-Gospel, Hymn Written By A Unitarian Minister?
“It Came Upon The Midnight Clear” (now typically titled, “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”) was first published in 1834. It was written by Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810–76), an Unitarian minister with Swedenborgian convictions. C. Michael Hawn, who teaches sacred music, describes . . . Continue reading →
Things Not To Say About Jesus At Christmas (Or Any Other Time)
In the spirit of Festivus, Reformed folk have historically had a lot of problems with both the ecclesiastical calendar, including advent, and Christmas. It is not because we do not heartily affirm the incarnation of our Lord—we do!—but because neither the Scriptures . . . Continue reading →
Another Downside Of Pietism: Christ’s Bodily Resurrection Is Marginalized
If it does not care much about the Lord’s Supper (either to observe it or as to who communes) neither does it necessarily have a vital interest in the facts of the history of salvation. This tendency is plainly evident in two great figures in the history of Pietism, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) and Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918). Both were raised in the Pietist tradition and both abandoned historic Christianity. Continue reading →
On “Meta” Ministry, Docetism, VR Church, And The Communion Of The Saints
Already in the apostolic period of the church there were heretics, John calls them “antichrists” (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:2–3; 2 John 1:7) who taught that Jesus only appeared to be human but that he did not have a true human body. . . . Continue reading →