Do all professing Christians pray with the same efficacy? Does our godliness or lack thereof affect our prayers in terms of the influence they have on God to answer them? There is no question, our sin can hinder our prayers…
In a seminar last week on Martin Luther, I commented that a theologian of glory could easily use the theology of cross for his own ends. He would thereby utterly subvert its purpose while still using its form. This provoked…
Social media has brought about many interesting phenomena. Some of them are quite irritating. Someone can be privately critical of another person, but still praise that same person publicly. I’ve seen it happen. In South Africa we have a name…
James W. Skillen, The Good of Politics: A Biblical, Historical, and Contemporary Introduction. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014. $22.99 A welcome addition to Baker Academic’s “Engaging Culture” series, James Skillen’s The Good of Politics offers an accessible, probing introduction to…
James W. Skillen, The Good of Politics: A Biblical, Historical, and Contemporary Introduction. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014. $22.99 A welcome addition to Baker Academic’s “Engaging Culture” series, James Skillen’s The Good of Politics offers an accessible, probing introduction to…
Who likes a complainer? Complainers are unsettling to be around. Holiday meals ruined by laborious and endless complaints about how life has shortchanged them – the car that broke down too early, the college that should have given admission, the…
I have decided to go see the movie American Sniper because by all accounts it thoughtfully delves into the moral contours of warfare and killing. Whether we prefer to acknowledge it or not, our society has been at war for…
Well, if I thought it was bad when I exposed a few less-well-known things about John Wesley, that’s nothing compared to what happens when you touch the sacred shibboleths of Owenian Baptists! There was a bit of a social media…
Our Man in Ulster has just brought this 2014 news story to my attention, about a woman charged with assault for taking meth while pregnant. Setting aside the obvious legal issue about the personhood of a baby in the womb…
Another evangelical megachurch congregation has come out in favour of same sex marriage. This time it is GracePointe Church in Nashville, TN. The evangelical collapse is coming. A set of circumstances is conspiring to make it so. The external pressure…
