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Writing

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

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Federal Vision

Zacharias Ursinus & the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousnes

While I think Zacharias Ursinus’ thinking would be profitable to consider, I am not recording his reflections in order for readers to come to agreement with his position as a whole. Rather, my interest is twofold. First, I think the way the Heidelberg Catechisms is used as a “proof” of…

by Mark HorneJune 5, 2006
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Covenant

Does the New Covenant have its own distinctive sanctions as well as blessings? We affirm

On this question Hebrews 10 is quite clear and really needs no additional argument. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume…

by Mark HorneMay 21, 2006
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Biblical Horizons

FV, NPP, PCA, AAPC, ETC.

Not all readers of this essay letter may be aware of it, but a tempest has been brewing in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a tempest created by the liberal party in that denomination. It came about this way. In January 2002, a Pastor’s Conference on covenant theology was…

by James B. JordanAugust 5, 2005
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Biblical Horizons

The Closing of the Calvinistic Mind

Once upon a time there was such a thing as Calvinistic thought. It existed when I was younger, but seems to have largely disappeared in recent years. But let me elaborate. When I became a Calvinist, back in 1970, I bought a bunch of books. Over the next few years,…

by James B. JordanAugust 5, 2005
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Ephesians

The Centrality of Preaching

CHRIST THE PREACHER How Ephesians Shows Us Why Preaching is Essential to Salvation & Sanctification Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a…

by Mark HorneJune 5, 2005
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Baptism

Baptismal Theology Within Reformed Evangelicalism

Tracking the informal shifts in Protestant opinion regarding Baptism can be a difficult business. For example, in 1849 Anglican clergyman William Goode published his defense of Evangelicalism against the Anglo-Catholics under the title, The Doctrine of the Church of England as to the Effects of Baptism in the Case of…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2005

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History

Fourth Century Tour

Anyone wanting to spend some time in the fourth century should check out Fourth Century Christianity at www.fourthcentury.com, which is sponsored by the History Department of Wisconsin Lutheran College and directed by Glen Thompson. The site has chronological charts, original documents or links to other web sites with original documents…

November 13, 2008
History

Plus choses changent…

Timothy Barnes, summarizing Lactantius’s objections to Diocletian, writes that “Diocletian possessed great political sagacity, for he had the enviable ability to garner for himself the credit for actions which proved popular while saddling others with responsibility for failures or mistakes.”

November 13, 2008
Politics

Culture Wars

I’ve expanded my consideration of the “culture wars” in the age of Obama on the First Things web site: http://www.firstthings.com.

November 12, 2008

Wandering

Emphasizing the necessity of starting with the fact of revelation rather than the abstract possibility, Barth charges that “consciously or unconsciously, the Neo-Protestant tradition, in which Lessing, Kant, and Schleiermacher sought access to Christ along a road that could not lead to Him.”

November 11, 2008
Biblical Studies

Synoptic problem

Scripture gives us two “synoptic problems” - the problem of harmonizing the gospels and the problem of harmonizing Kings and Chronicles. That is, the history of the kingdom and the history of Jesus are each told more than once. The parallel is intriguing. It suggests that the two histories are…

November 11, 2008
Theology

Total Depravity

Bavinck makes the interesting, Augustinian, and important point that sin can never become our essence because it is not a substance: “it does indeed inhabit and infect all of us, but it is not and cannot be the essence of our humanity. Also, after the fall, we human beings remain…

November 11, 2008

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