Luther, God’s Law and Uncle Rico Syndrome
In 1524 Desiderius Erasmus, who until then had proven reluctant to challenge Martin Luther publically, finally caved to pressure from Rome to employ his literary talent against the impudent German…
Aaron Denlinger
Scotland’s Protestant Martyrs: Thomas Forret
The persecution of Protestants in Scotland, at least if measured in martyrdoms, peaked in 1539, shortly after Cardinal David Beaton, a zealous opponent of reform, was appointed primate of the…
Holy vs Unholy Laughter: Calvin on Gen. 21.1-21
Calvin discovers in Gen. 21, with its record of Isaac’s birth and Ishmael’s banishment from Abraham’s house, a contrast between two kinds of laughter, one “holy and lawful,” the other…
Christ Descended into Hell: No Hope without It
Of the twelve affirmations that constitute the Apostles’ Creed — perhaps the most regularly recited statement of basic Christian doctrine in the western Church of the last 1500 years —…
Justification by God’s Word of Promise Alone
“One thing,” Martin Luther writes in the Freedom of a Christian (1520), “and only one thing, is necessary for Christian life, righteousness, and freedom. That one thing is _______.” Knowing Luther to…
Is Family-Integrated Worship the Historical Norm?
Advocates of “family-integrated worship” — a fancy term for keeping kids of every age in church services rather than shuffling them off to the nursery/crèche, Sunday School (UK), or Children’s…
Calvin on Life’s Perils and God’s Providence
Calvin apparently lived with a profound awareness of the potential for death that constantly accompanies us as human beings. In 1.17.10 of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, the Reformer…
Richard Hooker: A Companion to his Life and Work
W. Bradford Littlejohn, Richard Hooker: A Companion to His Life and Work. Cascade Books: Eugene, OR, 2015. $24.99 Littlejohn takes seriously the role defined for his book by its…
Richard Hooker: A Companion to his Life and Work
W. Bradford Littlejohn, Richard Hooker: A Companion to His Life and Work. Cascade Books: Eugene, OR, 2015. $24.99 Littlejohn takes seriously the role defined for his book by its…
Buckets and Burning Churches: Luther, the Church, and Catholicity
In his Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation of 1520, Luther takes aim at the Roman Church’s “flimsy and worthless” claim to possess the exclusive authority and…