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Sacramental Theology

The Gospel according to the Sacraments (Part 3): One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

In the first post of this series, I proposed that the sacraments of baptism and communion are the nexus point for the evangelical and ecumenical movements. In the following post , I proposed a new orientation for ecumenism – a conciliarity of the cross – with the necessary confession of…

by Michael SpalioneJanuary 2, 2018
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Baptism

Christian Mission and Cultural Transformation

“Contextualization” is now, and has been for a long time, the buzzword for the day. 1 Missionary effort in non-Western countries is all about “contextualization” — making our communication of the Gospel, if not the Gospel itself, fit into the culture to whom we from the West speak. 2 There…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 28, 2017
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Sacramental Theology

The Gospel According to the Sacraments, Part 2

In my previous post , I highlighted the sacraments as the point of convergence between evangelicalism and ecumenism arguing that baptism and communion are presented in the New Testament as signs of the gospel that simultaneously enact and remember union with Christ and the unity of Christ’s body. I concluded…

by Michael SpalioneDecember 27, 2017
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Baptism

Baptism and Contextualization: Part 2

Click HERE for Part I of this series. What does baptism have to do with culture? As I said in the previous essay, the short answer is “everything!” To begin with, baptism is baptism into Jesus’ death (Romans 6:3). Paul explains this as the crucifixion of the “old man” (“old…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 21, 2017
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Advent

Twin Nativities

In the accounts of our Lord’s nativity and early childhood, so familiar to us from many years of Advent and Christmas services, we often fail to recognize in them the gentle intimations of a greater nativity that is yet to come. The attentive ear, however, can discover in these passages…

by Alastair RobertsDecember 19, 2017
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Advent

Daughters of Zion

Isaiah warns that Yahweh is coming to remove Judah’s leaders in every area of social, economic and political life so completely that there will be no one left to lead besides children (3:4) and women (v. 12). As Isaiah goes on, however, it becomes clear that the women of Judah…

by Peter LeithartDecember 14, 2017

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Reformational Catholicism

Reformational Catholicism Now

Should Protestants have excluded Catholics from the Lord’s table? James B. Jordan thinks not , and also tells some tales from the front of Reformational Catholicism.

May 7, 2014

Breaking Logjams

Doctrinal differences between Catholics and Protestants look permanent and intractable. It looks as if one or the other must simply win the struggle. But doctrinal impasses aren’t resolved by a death-battle between current options. They’re resolved by fresh formulations that synthesize existing concerns, break new ground, solve some difficulties and…

May 7, 2014

Lovers’ Spat

Christopher Caldwell offers this concise analysis of the fateful conversation between Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling and V. Stiviano: It is “pathetic intimate quarrel between Mr Sterling and a 31-year-old woman, V Stiviano. Something is upsetting Mr Sterling very much, but it is not black people – at least not primarily.…

May 6, 2014
Justice

Making Paul Religious

Paul, writes Theodore Jennings in Outlaw Justice , “is concerned with the most basic issues of political thinking, law and justice” (3). Translations, though, often obscure this interest, minimizing the political dimensions of Paul’s vocabulary and arguments by turning his letters into “religious” teaching, teaching concerned primarily with the salvation…

May 6, 2014

Playing Safe

The challenge of the Middle East peace process is the problem of the disparity of power. Andrew Bacevich writes , “Between Israelis and Palestinians, the disparity of power looms large and not by accident. Even before founding their state, Zionists were intent on acquiring a surplus of power. By means…

May 6, 2014

Social Construction

Reader David Gornoski writes: I had a lot of fun with the social construct theory professors. I say, Yes, Language does construct reality. “In the beginning was the Word.” God spoke and now we exist. And yes, reality is socially constructed. A society in one being, the Trinity created it.…

May 6, 2014

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