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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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The Warrior and the City

Revelation 19:6-9 Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to…

August 3, 2015

Justice by Faith

Eugene Boring reviews Herman Waetjen's Letter to the Romans in the Review of Biblical Literature (July 2015). According to Boring, Waetjen sets Paul's gospel in the context of a biblical story stretching back to Adam and including the promise to Abraham: “Adam (= humanity) was created in God’s image and…

August 3, 2015

In the City

In John's final vision (Revelation 21:9-22:5), new Jerusalem descends from heaven as a bride. Her jasper walls sparkle, the city itself is transparent gold, the foundation stones are precious gems. She is, in sum, a rich city. Within Jerusalem, there is constant light. The glory of the nations comes into…

July 31, 2015

Immigration and Statism

During the gold rush of 1848, Chinese immigrants began to move into the United States in large numbers, especially in California. Between 1850 and 1882, a quarter-million immigrated, many of them working on railroads and mines, in dangerous working conditions, with little pay and few tools. During the 1860s and…

July 31, 2015

A Nation of (Some) Immigrants

Aristide Zolberg argues that the US isn't a nation of immigrants so much as a Nation By Design . President Kennedy to the contrary: Not a nation of immigrants but a nation of some immigrants. American immigration is not a story of laissez-faire yielding to restrictionism. Openness and restriction have…

July 31, 2015

Rolling Back Reconstruction

During the debates over the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), Western mounted arguments to appeal their Southern colleagues. Southerners in their turn employed the Western arguments against Chinese rights to limit the rights of Southern African Americans. Cozy bedfellows in racial politics. According to Andrew Gyory's study of the Chinese act…

July 31, 2015

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