Reformation21

Another principle for racial reconciliation in the church from Dolphus Weary: "We must develop safe environments for reconciliation to be pursued. Strong relationships can be forged through honest dialogue. Without efforts to reach a shared mutual understanding of one another, efforts to achieve...

Anyone wanting to read a brief, but brilliant rebuttal of Bart Ehrman's latest attack on the Bible's textual trustworthiness, Misquoting Jesus , should read Robert Gundry's "Post-Mortem: Death by Hardening of the Categories" In the September/October edition of Books and Culture . He begins by...

Kelly Kapic informs me that several updated editions of works by John Owen are due for publication in the next year.Due in October (by Crossway) are three classic treatises on sin and temptation: Overcoming Sin and Temptation: Three Classic Works (edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor). Due in...

As Phil has noted, we enjoyed a particularly satisfying ordination service this past Sunday evening at our church, as the Rev. Andrew DiNardo was entered into the gospel ministry as a teaching elder in the PCA. It is always fun to see Phil (although we actually see each other a fair amount during...

My beloved Boston Red Sox have been officially out of the major league baseball playoffs for a few days, but actually out of it for over a month. This has been a real bummer to my son, Matthew, and me. We are especially bummed since our favorite dirtdog of a player, Trot Nixon, is sure to leave the...

A fifth and final principle from Dolphus Weary: "We must maintain a 'Big Kingdom' perspective. Reconciled relationships can occur when each individual believes and perceives that he or she is an equal partner and in need of the other. Each church and denomination must avoid the temptation of seeing...

When possible (I am often hopelessly behind), I try to include the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society in my regular reading. A week or two ago I quoted from Daniel Wallace's excellent piece in the June 2006 issue -- a review of Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus . Wallace makes a comment at...

The rules from C.S. Lewis are both compelling and challenging. It reminds of one of Dr. James Boice's maxims: speak from the Germanic and not the Latin side of the English vocabulary. He meant that preachers should cultivate plain and direct speech. The English language combines both Anglo-Saxon...

Rick's comments about James Boice are confirmed by the title gave to the congregational history he edited for Tenth Presbyterian Church on the occasion of its 150th anniversary: Making God's Word Plain . I am reminded of something that the worthy Puritan William Perkins once said: "Preaching must...

This week I read the decision in Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. Prison Fellowship Ministries, in which Judge Robert Pratt ruled that state funding for the InnerChange prison rehabilitation program amounted to an unlawful establishment of religion . Pratt's ruling made much...