Reformation21

So much recent debate surrounding social justice seems to boil down to fundamental disagreements and misunderstandings about the relationship between the "Kingdom of God" and the "Church." Many have conflated these two biblical concepts so as to lose the clear lines of demarcation regarding the...

We used to talk about the New Age. When I first began to think about how a worldview can shape culture, New Age was all the rage. Now noone even mentions New Age. So it must have failed, right? Actually, quite the opposite: it became normal. That phrase "spiritual but not religious" is just one...

Technology is at the same time destructive and creative, disruptive and connective. It erases jobs from existence (has anyone seen an ice cutter or an elevator operator recently?), and creates whole new industries and vocations (pause to recollect that no one but Apple employees had likely even...

Over the years it has been my practice, learned from others, to offer up praises and petitions framed by a passage of Scripture. Some of these passages were read in preparation for preaching, others offered material for meditation in daily devotion; still others were plundered specifically for the...

Nineteenth-century author and hymn-writer Elizabeth Payson Prentiss lived a life of exemplary faith in the midst of serious trials. For most of her life, she was confined to bed as an invalid, and her husband also suffered from ill health. In 1852, in a period of three months, their two young...

To mark the 30th anniversary of its groundbreaking 'Just Do It' ad campaign, the Nike corporation recently announced a new campaign featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick , unarguably one of the most polarizing figures in America today, with the slogan: "Believe in something. Even if it...

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy (and each Gospel minister) not to be innovative or novel in his ministry, but to be faithful , when he gave the following charge: "The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who...

Last month, Pope Francis expressed his opinion that the death penalty is unacceptable in all cases . At the same time as he took his public stand, a series of popular opinions circulated online about whether or not the death penalty was to be viewed as valid as a Christian position. The better part...

Books are marvelously powerful. Thomas Aquinas is said to have feared the "man of one book," and no wonder: a great book has great power to transform the soul. And in my own life, the recently translated prolegomena volume of Petrus van Mastricht's late seventeeth-century Theoretical-Practical...

John Hooper, the English Reformer and pastor, was burned at the stake for his unwavering stand upon the truth of Scripture. In 1555, just three weeks prior to his martyrdom, John Hooper gave the following charge in a letter: "You must now turn all your thoughts from the peril you see, and mark the...