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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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Solomon and Pharaoh’s Daughter: A Pauline Interpretation

It seems that Solomon begins his reign with a breach of the law. Deuteronomy 7:3-4 forbids Israel from intermarrying with Gentiles, Canaanites in particular, and the usage in Deuteronomy 7 is very similar to that of 1 Kings 3:1. Solomon ?became son-in-law to Pharaoh,?Eand Deuteronomy 7 forbids the Israelites to…

August 28, 2004

Translation, 1 Kings 3

Again, a wooden, unpolished, but perhaps helpful translation. And Shlomoh became son-in-law to Pharaoh king of Mizrayim. And he took the daughter of Pharaoh And caused her to enter (brought her) to the city of David Until his finishing to build His house And the house of Yahweh And the…

August 27, 2004
Science

Dawkins and the Devil

Stephen M. Barr offers a hilarious review of Richard Dawkins’s latest, A Devil’s Chaplain in the August/September issue of First Things . He chides Dawkins for getting his facts wrong and for pervasive, stubborn superficiality. He concludes that there are several Dawkinses, and that his book is a war of…

August 27, 2004
Literature

Two Cultures?

CP Snow famously lamented the division of Western culture into separate worlds of Science and Humanities, to which Vladimir Nabokov (novelist and lepidopterist) replied: “I would have compared myself to a Colossus of Rhodes bestriding the gulf between the thermodynamics of Snow and the Lawrentonmania of Leavis, had that gulf…

August 27, 2004
Music

African Polyphony

In a brief article in the August 6 TLS , Stephen Brown reflects on the influence of African music on the music of America and Europe. Until WWI, he writes, African music had little impact on the wider musical scene, but after the war “there was no popular music in…

August 27, 2004

Sermon Outline, August 29

Wisdom To Do Justice, 1 Kings 3:1-28 INTRODUCTION 1 Kings 3 is divided into three sections. The first is a brief notice about Solomon?s marriage to Pharaoh?s daughter, and the continuing practice of sacrifice on high places (vv. 1-3). The second, longer section is about Solomon?s request for wisdom (vv.…

August 25, 2004

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