Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Leo the Great's second sermon on the Ascension, Sermon 74 . I. The mystery of our salvation, dearly-beloved, which the Creator of the universe valued at the price of His blood, has now been carried out under conditions of humiliation from the day of His bodily birth to the end…
Life, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy says, is suffering, battle, pain, shock, failure, elation. Human beings are always torn, always riven. Much of human life, individually and collectively, is an effort to deal with suffering and death. By being the first Man, Jesus establishes the possibility of a different stance toward suffering and…
Is Christian baptism given to believers only or to believers and their children? That’s the question that must be answered—but only if you’re Baptist or Presbyterian. That’s how the question is framed between these two denominations in this dispute, and it’s along these lines the debate unfolds as each side…
Again and again the liturgy of St Chrysostom calls God a lover of mankind. He is Philanthropolos Theos (man-loving God), Kurios Philanthropolos (man-loving Lord), Philopsychos (lover of the soul). Philanthropy wasn’t a Christian invention. Roman benefactors gave benefits to subordinates. What was new was the shape of philanthropy, for the…
Perhaps the most fearful of all possibilities in the world is the possibility of betrayal on the part of someone who is in a “position of trust.” This, unfortunately, is the first block in what ought to be the foundation of every marriage in the world. Every woman has a…
It seems that denominationalism has had its day. A 2009 Barna survey found that denominational commitments have gone squishy in mainline Protestant churches, and Evangelicals don’t fare much better than the rest. After a similar survey, Ron Sellers of Ellison Research said that Protestants are as “loyal to their denominations…
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John Robbins ‘s current Trinity Review is devoted to a sharply negative review of my book Against Christianity . So far as I can tell, Robbins caught me in one error: I did, as he said, misuse the phrase “beg the question” at one point. Otherwise, I would say that…
Again, much of this is from Jim Jordan ‘s From Bread to Wine . Kingly Rule, 1 Kings 3:1-28 INTRODUCTION Israel moved from its priestly to its kingly phase through a process of destruction and renewal. The Mosaic order broke down after the battle of Aphek (1 Samuel 4-6), and…
David Yeago makes this important comment about Luther’s “catholic” turn after 1518: “For Luther after 1518, Christ is central not as pattern but as person; we are saved by the faith that acknowledges his authority, competence, and willingness to rescue those who call upon him. The gospel that is proclaimed…
McGrath gives an account of the development of the doctrine of imputation within early Reformation theology. He notes that there are elements of the doctrine already in the early Luther: “The reinterpretation of grace as an absolute external, and faith as a partial internal, quality permits Luther to maintain what…
Who wrote this? ” opera sunt necessaria ad salutem, sed non causant salutem, quia fides sola dat vitam ” (works are necessary to salvation, yet they do not cause salvation, for faith alone gives life). Norman Shepherd would be a good guess, except that he doesn’t write in Latin. Calvin…
Alister McGrath’s discussion of Luther’s theology of justification in his standard work, Iustitia Dei , shows that understanding grace as favor Dei rather than as a “medicinal substance” was an essential part of the Reformation doctrine of grace. He writes, “The most significant discussion of faith [in Luther’s earler writings]…
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