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Writing

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

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Theologia

Reflections on the Importance of Predestination in the Christian Mindset

But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt…

by Mark HorneJune 4, 1998
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Biblical Horizons

The Case Against Western Civilization, Part 5

Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World As I mentioned above, the history of Israel involved several centuries as a church-without-a-culture, and then several centuries as a culture-without-a-city. To be sure, there was an informal culture around the church of the Patriarchs, but the civilization of free farmers…

by James B. JordanJune 4, 1998
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Baptism

Why Do We Baptize?

In the Reformation Tradition we baptize both professing believers and their children. In the case of infants it is now commonly insisted that this is done because the children are already in covenant with God. Baptism is a sign and seal of a previously existing reality. Despite the popularity of…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 1998
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Eucharist

This Is What We Are:

Concerning Sex & the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf of bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 1998
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Baptism

Sacramental Efficacy

Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato, virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the mumbo-jumbo and — presto! — the sacraments confer…

by Peter LeithartJune 3, 1998
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Baptism

Baptism and the Church

In 27.2, the Westminster Confession says that because of the “spiritual relation” between sacraments and the things they represent, “the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” Applied to baptism, this means that when the Bible says that we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6), it…

by Peter LeithartMay 29, 1998

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Theology

McCarthy’s Proof

At the end of the film version of Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses , the principal character, Cole, asks whether God exists. Cole has been through a infernal trip to Mexico - his lover is taken away from him by her family, he watches a companion get shot, endures…

August 21, 2006
Theology

McCarthy’s Proof

At the end of the film version of Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses , the principal character, Cole, asks whether God exists. Cole has been through a infernal trip to Mexico - his lover is taken away from him by her family, he watches a companion get shot, endures…

August 21, 2006

Eucharistic meditation

2 Chronicles 20: Every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres and trumpets to the house of the LORD. And the dread of…

August 20, 2006

Wedding Sermon

1 Corinthians 7:3-4: Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife…

August 20, 2006

Baptismal meditation

Paul’s description of the armor of God draws on Isaiah 59, the description of God’s own armor. We deck ourselves in the same armor He does. But Paul is also referring to another set of garments found in the OT. In the OT, the high priest wore a breastplate and…

August 20, 2006

Exhortation

The Psalter is the church’s primary Hymnal, and what do we find when we pick up the Psalter? We learn that God establishes the righteous man like a tree, but drives the wicked away like chaff. Then we learn that God has installed His Son as King of kings, and…

August 20, 2006

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