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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Biblical Horizons

Writing and Thinking

During one of my AAPC lectures I read a portion of Richard Mitchell’s provocative little book The Underground Grammarian . Here’s the portion I read: The mind is a rudderless wanderer blown here or there by any puff of breeze. If I mention watermelons, you must think of watermelons; if…

by Jeff MeyersJanuary 14, 2008
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Biblical Studies

Psalms 23-29: Analysis

This is the donation thank-you essay for January 2008. Our studies in the Psalms go out month by month in response to donations. I’m putting this one up here as an example, and also because the version I actually mailed out contained several egregious arithmetical errors! So, here is the…

by James B. JordanJanuary 6, 2008
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American Culture

The Case Against Western Civilization, Parts 1-7

Part 1: Introduction The collapse of the Western tradition in the United States, seen in the hostility to Christianity in government and education, and the elimination of “traditional” or “canon” learning from our institutions of middle and higher learning, provides a crisis and an opportunity for serious believers at the…

by James B. JordanDecember 5, 2007
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Theologia

On Forgiving Oneself: Nine Reasons Why It Can Be Appropriate

While “forgiving oneself” is widely accepted in the secular world as a legitimate and needful thing to do, Christians are rightly suspicious. After all, God is the one who forgives. When we sin against other people, we need to seek their forgiveness, not our own. Nevertheless after looking at Vine’s…

by Mark HorneJune 6, 2007
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Biblical Studies

Every Word Matters to the Story

This was originally published as HIStory in the column, “A Pastor’s Perspective” in Ligonier Ministrie’s Tabletalk Magazine . I am not sure of the date but it was probably published in 1999 or 2000. Quick! What’s the basic message of the Bible? Summarize it in as few words as possible…

by Mark HorneJune 6, 2007
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Church Government

The Pastorate and the Presbytery

A Brief Explanation of What a Presbytery Is & Why Pastors in Presbyterian Denominations are Members of Them A belief in the primacy of the local congregation of the Church, I think, reflects the gut feeling of most North American Evangelicals. As a result, the form of Church government universally…

by Mark HorneJune 5, 2007

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Philosophy

Collapsing Foundationalisms

Wells quotes from British sociologist Anthony Giddens , who argues that postmodernism is not so much a rejection of modern foundationalism as “unmasking what has been hidden in the modern.” In classic Enlightenment foundationalism, reason is self-grounded, and faith in reason is a dogmatic faith. For consistency’s sake, Enlightenment thinkers…

December 23, 2005
Theology

David Wells on Pomo

Like many of David Wells ‘s books, I’ve find his recent Above All Earthly Pow’rs simultaneously bracing, stimulating, and frustrating. Wells examines the consequences of the confluence of two main cultural trends - the postmodern ethos and the increasingly pluralistic religious situation of the West. He makes many good points:…

December 23, 2005

Moses in 1-2 Kings

Moses is mentioned 10 times in Kings, and there are some tantalizing connections with the 10 Words that Moses delivered to Israel. For instance: 1. 1 Kings 2:3: David exhorts Solomon to guard the Lord’s commandments and walk in his ways, using a 7fold description of the law. This is…

December 23, 2005

Homo Creator

In his 1607 treatise, Idea of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects , the painter Federigo Zuccaro claimed that human being was creative being: “Because of His goodness and to show in a small replica the excellence of his divine art, [God] having created man in His image and likeness with respect…

December 22, 2005
History

Augustine and the Renaissance Self

William Bouwsma points out in his book on the “waning of the Renaissance” that the Renaissance challenged what he calls the “traditional conception of the self,” in which reason sits at the top of a hierarchy of discrete faculties, including will, passions, and body. The challenge to this conception during…

December 22, 2005
Theology

Frame on McLaren

John Frame has a typically gracious though critical review of Brian McLaren ‘s Generous Orthodoxy in the current issue of Reformation and Revival Journal. Frame appreciates a number of the concerns that animate McLaren (learning from other Christian traditions, the missional concept of the church, a hermeneutic of love, among…

December 21, 2005

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