Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When someone expounds the way of salvation found in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms and in the easily-accessible writings of the Reformed heritage, he often finds him embroiled in a debates about the covenant of works and the Mosaic Covenant. One is “proven” to be aberrant by allegations that one…
The ultimate condemnation of a position in Reformed circles is to show that it “leads back to Rome.” Indeed, one gets the feeling that Rome is a worse destination for a Presbyterian than even hell itself. The accusation of Rome stings deeply, of course, because it means that all the…
One of the odd features of Michael Horton’s version of Covenant theology is his interpretation of the covenant God made with Abraham 1 in Genesis 15. According to Horton, The very way in which God made the covenant with Abraham (putting him to sleep; walking through the torn animals by…
What was I trying to do, when I wrote my book on Mark’s Gospel ? Fundamentally, I wanted a book that would change readers by making them better readers of the Gospel of Mark. My ideal reader is not someone who goes to the book to use as a resource…
Why do we need sacraments? According to the Westminster Confession, sacraments were instituted by Christ “to confirm our interest in him” (27.1), “to strengthen and increase” the “faith” of those within the Covenant of Grace and “to distinguish them from those that are without” that covenant (Westminster Larger Catechism, #162).…
In Isaiah 5:1-7, we have a typical covenant lawsuit, in which the Lord accuses his people of rejecting his grace and mercy. It is not my intention here to exegete the entire passage, or to look at the way the vineyard image used here serves as a metaphor in other…
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It doesn't take long for a pastor to discover the discrepancy between need and resources in his ministry. Needs are infinite, or seem to be so. The pastor's resources of time, energy, and skill are radically limited. It's a dilemma, and one ripe for frustration, guilt, and burn-out. The pastor's…
In his recently-released Paul & the Gift , John Barclay argues that the concept of “grace” is multi-faceted and “susceptible to ‘perfection' (conceptual extension) in a number of different ways” (6). He takes the notion of “perfection” from Kenneth Burke, who describes it as the inclination to “draw out” a…
Erynn Masi de Casanova observes in her forthcoming Buttoned Up that since the surfeit of books on white collar conformism in the 1950s, “mainstream social science has largely ignored the world of white-collar work and the identities of the people who perform this work.” And in particular they have ignored…
Ross Douthat has recently observed that Trump's popularity is a sign that neither of the major parties represents the complexities of political opinion in the United States. No party and virtually no candidates are both pro-life and pro-Obamacare. But many citizens are both. This should be kept in mind during…
Donald Trump calls Jeb Bush a “nice” but “low energy” man. Whatever Bush does, Trump wins. Suppose Bush tries to get more energetic. That proves Trump was right, because Bush had to step it up. More, it keeps Trump in control, because Bush is dancing (more energetically) to Trump's tune.…
Wars are supposed to be moments to renew national solidarity, but Agnieszka Monnet argues that “all wars since WWII have been failures, as far as regenerating a collective sense of purpose and national cohesion is concerned: so-called successful ones, such as the Panama Invasion and Persian Gulf, as ineffective in…
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