Month October 2009

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The Necessity of Controversy

From Martin Downes: What happens when controversy rears its head and cracks in our unity appear? Theological controversies invariably reveal that there are significant differences that people hold to on matters of doctrine, whilst the quarrelling parties both claim to…

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The Parent’s Vanishing Authority

From Al Mohler: Literary critic Lionel Trilling once referred to “the dark and bloody crossroads where literature and politics meet.” In reality, almost all literature is political in some sense. Oddly enough, the most explicitly subversive literature is often presented…

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Photos

The pulpit at Christ Church in Philadelphia. If you’ve never taken the tour it is well worth checking out. When construction was completed it was the tallest building in the U.S. for 57 years.

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Reformation Reading – Martin Luther

Read about Martin Luther. He was a fascinating man. A good novelist could not have dreamed up a more interesting character. Here are few books on Martin Luther well worth reading: The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed…

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Blog 199: 4.11.8 – 4.11.11

Should ministers of the gospel also be found in the world of civilian politics? No, according to Calvin, citing Ambrose: “to the emperor belongs the palaces; to the priest the churches.” The Genevan reformer has in mind the aggregation of…

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Blog 198: 4.11. 2 – 4.11.7

Calvin’s interpretation of the “keys of the kingdom” (Matt. 16:19; 18:17-18) contends with Roman views advocating the primacy of the Roman see. “[T]hey know so well,” Calvin comments, “how to fit their keys to any locks and doors they please…

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“Luther’s Theology of the Cross”

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg. Reflecting on Martin Luther’s “theology of the cross” Carl Trueman writes: The “theologians of glory,”…are those who build their theology in…

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How to cope with evil speaking

From Charles Simeon (in Hugh Evan Hopkins, Charles Simeon of Cambridge [Eerdmans, 1977], 134): The longer I live, the more I feel the importance of adhering to the rules which I have laid down for myself in relation to such…

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Mammon Worship or Peace of Mind?

Phil Johnson has posted an excellent article on the Christian’s relationship with money. Considering what I have preached about the last two Sunday’s I thought the post was very timely. Worry is the natural and inevitable by-product of setting one’s…

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Imagine what he’d think of email…

From Hugh Evan Hopkins, Charles Simeon of Cambridge (Eerdmans, 1977), 123-4: Although he wrote so many letters Simeon was very well aware how much better it was, if possible, to talk rather than write, especially when a ‘delicate or much-controverted point’ arose.…