Theology

The hullabaloo concerning Harrison Butker’s (an NFL kicker of repute) defense of the glory of motherhood has caught my attention. In a single speech Butker has become the face of traditionalist home-and-family Christianity and a new punching bag for conscience-stricken progressives. Young...

A while back, I took an interest in the theology of Maximus the Confessor. I primarily became interested in him because he represents a theological capstone to Nicene-Constantinopolitan theology, and I want to keep sharpening and improving my own Christology as a pastor. If I wanted to understand...

Occasionally, I see and hear comments about the relationship between Reformed theology and the pagan world. Some are nervous and hesitant to appreciate non-Christian authors whereas others sometimes express deep appreciation and admiration for those who do not profess the faith but say things that...

There’s a new liberalism making its way through our churches and transforming our denominations. No, this liberalism doesn’t deny the virgin birth or the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection. This liberalism is steeped in biblical exegesis and historic-Reformed categories. Today’s liberalism attempts...

In 2016, there was an eruption in conservative Evangelical and Reformed theologians surrounding the doctrine of the Eternal Functional Subordination of the Son (EFS). There’s no need to rehash what has already been said, as that has been summarized helpfully elsewhere . Needless to say, it was the...

In recent years I have heard and read various criticisms of the Puritans and (rather surprisingly) Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress . Bunyan’s “dream” is certainly not a perfect system of theology by any stretch of the imagination, but if it leaves you cold then I would be very interested in what makes...

On a recent visit to a bookstore in Gothenburg, I came across an early edition of Bonaventure’s commentary on Lombard’s Sentences . The following week in Copenhagen I bought a 1586 edition of Thomas’s Summa . Re-visiting those works caused me to ask myself, “Where have all the theologians gone...

Following the fall of the Cambridge Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary has slipped from the same cultural precipice only to dashed on the blunt rocks of wokeness below. The evidence? A secondary definition has been added to define the word female. Now, claims the book that is...

Welcome to Ref21! It probably sounds strange to be welcomed to a page that you have read for nearly twenty years! Ref21 has been a staple of daily Christian reading for literally thousands of believers. So, why act as if we are meeting for the first time? The answer is, we are. My name is Jeff...

How do you envision a triune God carrying out the divine missions? Do you picture the Son and Spirit departing the throne room—lunchboxes in hand—only to return to Heaven in the evening and report to the Father? If so, how might we understand our communion with God or the presence of Jesus in the...