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Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Assurance

The Call of Grace: How the Covenant Illuminates Salvation & Evangelism

Book Review The Call of Grace: How the Covenant Illuminates Salvation & Evangelism by Norman Shepherd The Call of Grace is an excellent manual to put in the hands of laymen to teach them how to rest in God’s grace while taking seriously the prize of the upward call of…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 2002
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Baptism

Why I Did Not Baptize My Daughter

My Role as a Parent in My Children’s Salvation Evangeline Jael Horne is our third child. My two boys were born while we were at seminary and we had the privilege of giving them to Jeff Meyers, our pastor at that time, for baptism. When Evangeline was born, however, I…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 2002
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Eucharist

John Calvin & Paedocommunion

John Calvin writes in the Institutes about the possibility of admitting children to the Lord’s Supper by virtue of their baptism once and only once: At length they object, that there is not greater reason for admitting infants to baptism than to the Lord’s Supper, to which, however, they are…

by Mark HorneJune 1, 2002
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Eucharist

For the Children’s Sake: An Alternative Angle on the Paedocommunion Debate

The debate over paedocommunion does not seem to have made much headway on either side in recent years. Certainly both sides have made a solid effort to argue for their position. But no resolution seems to be forthcoming in the near future. As a convinced paedocommunionist, I find the church’s…

by Rich LuskJune 1, 2002
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Baptism

Can Baptism Do Anything?

Lots of conservative Protestants want to answer “no” to this question. The problem with this position is that conservative Protestants are bound to believe what the Bible teaches. And the Bible says inconvenient things, like “baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3.21), or “all of you who were baptized into…

by Mark HorneMay 30, 2002
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Baptism

Calvin On Baptism, Penance, and Absolution

This paper is something of a follow-up to my earlier study, “ Baptismal Efficacy and the Reformed Tradition: Past, Present, and Future .” One of the more controversial aspects of that paper was my claim that Calvin held to a very high view of baptismal efficacy. Indeed, he was a…

by Rich LuskMay 30, 2002

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From Freedom to Fascism

Robert Kuttner's NYRB review of Gareth Dale's Karl Polanyi: A Life on the Left highlights Polanyi's relevance to contemporary global politics and economics. Kuttner observes that the "period between the two world wars, free-market liberals governing Britain, France, and the US tried to restore the pre–World War I laissez-faire system.…

January 5, 2018

Scattering and Gathering

The Chronicler gathers all Israel - indeed, a cross section of ancient humanity - on the opening pages of his chronicle. The genealogy is a great, inter-generational qahal (assembly), and the Chronicler is the Qoheleth, the Gatherer. As soon as his story starts, though, Israel is being dispersed. Israel flees…

January 4, 2018

Left Behind

In his forthcoming The Left Behind , Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow tries to penetrate past the headlines and stereotypes to discover the truth about, his subtitle has it, decline and rage in rural America. Wuthnow didn't drop into flyover country for a long weekend of hanging with local pundits at…

January 4, 2018

Conservatives on Globalization

James R. Rogers offers a useful taxonomy of contemporary conservative critiques of globalization. He defines globalization as "decreasing costs to capital and labor mobility. Mobility across, but also within, national borders." Alternatively, it could be defined as "the process of incorporating new regions of the world into a unified market…

January 3, 2018

Free Theocracy

In his Religious Philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov , Jonathan Sutton lays out Solovyov's (Solovyev; Soloviev) conception of "free theocracy." For Solovyov, "the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth is presented as an ordering of all aspects of life (individual and communal life) according to Christian principles. Furthermore, this…

January 2, 2018

Gentiles in Chronicles

In a contribution to The Chronicler as Author , Ehud Ben Zvi reviews five statements about Israel from foreigners in the book of Chronicles. The foreigners are Huram of Tyre, the Queen of Sheba, Sennacherib, Neco king of Egypt, and Cyrus the Persian. The first and last two are positive…

January 2, 2018

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