Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
“And it shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they shall say no more, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.’ And it shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor…
Elsewhere, I have argued that there is grace in the so-called covenant of works (see, e.g., my colloquium essay, “A Response to ‘The Biblical Plan of Salvation,’” in The Auburn Avenue Theology: Pros and Cons , edited by Calvin Beisner (pages 118-148). It may be equally surprising to find justice…
Years ago, as a layman, I had the privilege of attending a Bible study led by a gifted teacher. His story was interesting: back when he was a student he had been severely sanctioned for affirming that one must repent in order to be saved, that one must trust Jesus…
Believing that God really exists Defining “faith” is sometimes made too complicated. The theologian, Louis Berkhof, for example, distinguishes “faith in general” from “faith in the religious sense and particularly saving faith.” Berkhof’s core definition of saving faith is not so bad. He says that it is “a certain conviction,…
It is generally acknowledged that when Paul wrote letters to churches, he expected his letters to be read in the worship service to the congregation. It is interesting, then, that when Paul wrote letters to a congregation he could feel free to address children and tell them to obey their…
Book 4 of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is a classic work of ecclesiology. This book is the longest section of the Institutes , showing Calvin’s deep interest in and love for the church. Among its many salutary features is a full scale exposition of those ecclesiastical leaders Calvin…
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It’s unfitting for God to fail to complete His purpose in the world, Anselm says. But his argument seems to imply that God is constrained to save. If this is true, Boso wonders, do we owe Him gratitude? After all, as Anselm himself admits, “when someone acts beneficently against his…
In the course of explaining to Boso why God must have created man in a state of righteousness, Anselm ( Cur deus homo ) analyzes rational nature. Rationality is a power of discrimination ( potestatem discernendi ), and particularly a power of moral discrimination: It distinguishes right and wrong (…
Timothy Larsen reviews Susan Jacoby’s The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought , and finds it to be an “endearing” sample of a disappearing genre of historical writing: hagiography. Larsen observes, “Christian historical writing has now matured to the point where it has dispensed with hagiography. Christian scholars are…
During a graduate seminar yesterday, one of the students highlighted the language of confinement and imprisonment in Galatians 3:23-24. Before faith appeared (presumably a reference to Jesus, Pistos , Revelation 19:11), “we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith later to be revealed.” “Kept…
The Trinity House web site is live. Today, Pastor Rich Lusk gives a primer on Ash Wednesday and explains how Lent edifies the church.
Ron Rosenbaum thinks Jane Austen is overhyped . Not, he insists, overrated. But lost in what he calls “the tsunami of schlocky, rapturous, over-the-top, wall-to-wall multiplatform of celebration of the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice . He’s got plenty of evidence to back it up: Erotic Austen, Tweeting Elizabeth…
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