Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I appreciate Andy Webb’s recent entry into the current discussion over baptismal efficacy. 1 This is an issue which has consumed a great deal of time and energy in the Reformed world in recent years. It is not likely to subside soon. As a contributing party to the discussion, I…
The Covenant Vision of the Heidelberg & Westminster Catechisms Regarding Children and Baptism 7 POINTS ABOUT THE TEACHING OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death? Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but…
Is the Holiday Unpresbyterian? ‘Tis the season to be informed–sometimes in gentleness, often with vigor–by a variety of Christians (and others 1 ) claiming that it is wrong to celebrate Christmas. I have no desire to force anyone to celebrate Christmas against their will. Indeed, it would be insulting to…
This month we begin by considering Alan D. Strange’s article, “Understanding the ‘Federal Vision'” published in the February 2007 issue of New Horizons, the official denominational magazine of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Mr. Strange is an OPC minister, a teacher at Mid-America Reformed Seminary, and was a member of the…
There is no reason to believe that Matthew 24, Mark 13, or Luke 21 records Jesus prophesying about what is now known in Christian theology as “the Second Coming.” In my opinion, the fact that most modern conservative Christian scholars and pastors are not yet willing to acknowledge that the…
Francis Turretin, the Reformed theologian of the seventeenth century, carefully distinguishes the Reformed view of infant faith from Lutheran and Anabaptist claims. Anabaptists denied any faith to infants so that they could justify their refusal to baptize them. Lutherans affirmed (rightly) that covenant infants were believers, but made no distinction…
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I ngrid D. Rowland reviews several shows and books focusing on the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch (born Jheronimus van Aken ), celebrating this the 500th anniversary of his birth. Rowland notes that “Bosch’s grandfather and grandmother enrolled as members of the Brotherhood of Our Lady, the local religious confraternity. Ever…
B en Crair wants us to appreciate the fig as more than “a geriatric delicacy or the sticky stuff inside bad cookies.” Figs are “awesome: enclosed flowers that bloom modestly inward, unlike the flamboyant showoffs on other plants. Bite a fig in half and you’ll discover a core of tiny…
I n his Anchor Bible commentary on Revelation (102-3), Craig Koester summarizes the book's warnings about wealth. On the one hand, “wealth makes people ‘blind’”(Rev 3 :17 ). The charge can be correlated with Babylon’s arrogant inability to see the destructive consequences of its actions (18 : 7 –8 ).…
I n one of man jaw-dropping reminders in America's War for the Greater Middle East , Andrew Bacevich notes the origin of Iran's nuclear programs, so much and so controversially in the news of late: During Nixon's Presidency, while the Shah ruled Iran, “U.S. arms exports to Iran sky-rocketed. Between…
N athaniel Rich reviews the Library of America edition of the works of Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, inventor of landscape gardening, inspirer of the national park system. Rich discerns an “unmistakable irony” in Olmsted's theory of landscape: “It takes a lot of artifice to create convincing ‘natural'…
C aitlin Flanagan offers a characteristically searching analysis of the roots of our binge drinking academic, tracing it to a new mode of parenting that she describes as “Get-Real Parenting.” But she recognizes that it has a deeper source than parenting style: The hollowness at the center of their lives—the…
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