Reformation21

Søren Kierkegaard is surely one of the most influential and misunderstood influences on modern Western thought and especially contemporary theology. This is a bit surprising for someone who wrote in Danish and styled himself neither a philosopher nor a theologian but a "religious poet." That is a...

I left for England from Los Angeles in September 1977 because of one man and one book: J. I. Packer and Knowing God . Looking back, it was quite naïve of me to undertake such a journey knowing so little about my destination. As we were about to land in London, an English fellow noticed I was...

Names have always been important. There's a reason why "Judas" never tops the list of most popular baby names in any given year. When my wife and I were trying to pick out names for our children, we always had the same conversation: How will it sound with our last name, what does it mean, and how...

I oftentimes tell people that ministry is discouragement. My point, in saying this, is not to suggest that ministry is only and always discouraging. There are, to be sure, times of great encouragement and blessing in ministry. Praise God that it is so! There are times when we know that God is...

In the previous post in this series, we began to consider some of the theological concerns that surface in the teaching of those who hold to a form of the ERAS/ESS position. In this post, we wish to consider these concerns in more detail. In particular, the ERAS/ESS position seems to demand that...

I. Introduction "What is the relation between baptism and salvation in the thought of John Calvin?" This is a timely question, given that there has been much discussion over this very subject of late. On the one hand, there are those who claim that Calvin taught "baptismal regeneration" - at least...

I. Introduction "What is the relation between baptism and salvation in the thought of John Calvin?" This is a timely question, given that there has been much discussion over this very subject of late. On the one hand, there are those who claim that Calvin taught "baptismal regeneration" - at least...

Several weeks ago I re-read J. Gresham Machen's pivotal, early twentieth-century work Christianity and Liberalism in preparation for giving the final lectures of a seminary course on modern church history. Having originally read the work more than a decade ago, I had forgotten how much political...

"The world is going to hell." So begins How to Survive the Apocalypse , written by political theorist Robert Joustra and English professor/media critic Alissa Wilkinson. In fact, the authors are not predicting the imminent end of world per se , but describing a trend toward dystopian stories in...

"The world is going to hell." So begins How to Survive the Apocalypse , written by political theorist Robert Joustra and English professor/media critic Alissa Wilkinson. In fact, the authors are not predicting the imminent end of world per se , but describing a trend toward dystopian stories in...