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 Church (US) — generally claim their practice as the historical…
Mark D. Nanos and Magnus Zetterholm (eds.), Paul Within Judaism: Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015 It is nearly forty years since the publication of E. P. Sanders’s Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977) initiated a…
What should we look for in a candidate for president? That seems to be a pressing question for Americans right now. Rick has recently told us not to talk up or opt for socialism because “socialism is evil.” It’s worth…
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Karen and Carl Ellis to discuss some issues surrounding the Church’s role in the discussion over Islam, how reformed theology can speak into the exchange between both faiths, the situation…
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Karen and Carl Ellis to discuss some issues surrounding the Church’s role in the discussion over Islam, how reformed theology can speak into the exchange between both faiths, the situation…
Likeness is the ground of delight; God loves himself for his own holiness, and they are best loved and liked that are most holy. – Manton Can God’s love for us increase? We can answer this question – as indeed…
Most pastoral situations involving sin are quite complex. For example, when someone tells me about a person who got a divorce and then they proceed to ask me whether I think there were biblical grounds, I almost always refuse to…
In a recent blog post I urged the biblical basis for the spirituality of the church. One of the points I made is that while the church does not meddle in civil government, it most certainly may speak against social…
The Preacher wisely said that “there is nothing new under the sun,” and however aghast our pundits may be at the sudden rise of Trumpism, we really have seen it all before. The radicalization and fragmentation of the Republican Party…
Introduction According to Nicholas Wolterstorff, worship is the “Godward acknowledgement of God’s unsurpassable greatness . . . whose attitudinal stance toward God is awed, reverential, and grateful adoration.” As we saw in our last post, this definition aptly summarizes the…
