Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
This was a newspaper column that I wrote for the Minco Millennium back in January of 2000 when I had first moved to Minco, Oklahoma to pastor First Reformed Presbyterian Church. I wasn’t able to catch the recent performance of the musical, Godspell , in Oklahoma City. However, my dad…
Awhile back, there was a big debate among Evangelicals as to whether one had to trust Jesus “as Lord” as well as “as savior. Some claimed that one could be saved by Jesus through a faith that did not involve submission to him as Lord. Others claimed that one must…
I originally wrote this a few weeks ago in April 2002 as a column in the local newspaper, The Minco Millennium under the title “Faith & Follow-Through.” Several passages in the book of Hebrews are difficult for Protestants to swallow. The author affirms the once-and-for-all work of Christ and yet…
N. T. Wright’s commentary on Romans is destined to be a classic. The introduction alone is worth the hefty price of the book — but the exegesis itself is, well, priceless. I will not attempt a full review — these are just miscellaneous thoughts and random reflections — but I…
At an inn in the town of Lystra three men sat around a corner table. All three were well-known disciples of Joshua Messiah, members of what the town called a new cult, the Way. The short gray-haired man with the enormous beard was clearly restless. “This is taking too long,”…
Recently there has been some surprising debate in some circles over where Paul summarizes his Gospel. I say “surprising” because many Evangelical Bible scholars have held, for quite some time, that Paul’s Gospel is encapsulated in Romans chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Here is the passage in context: Paul,…
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The following is an abstract for a conference paper that I will be presenting in January 2005. Church history has often been regarded by the professional historians as a quaint hagiographic outpost for the pious. Globalization, along with developments within the historical profession, suggest that the time is propitious for…
Here are some quotations from Clifford Ronan’s fascinating study of Roman plays in early modern England, Antike Rome (University of Georgia, 1995). “We moderns often overlook the playfulness and garishness of Antiquity, thinking instead of weather-beaten bleached marble Doric columns, gleaming in the noonday Mediterranean sun. But to the Renaissance,…
When, in the European consciousness, did the Roman Empire end? 404 or 476 make sense, but I wonder if the Reformation was the true end of imperial Rome. Protestants frequently saw continuities of some sort between the Roman imperial authority and papal authority, and what they saw opening before their…
J. H. Bavinck’s An Introduction to the Science of Missions (first published in English in 1960) is superb. Bavinck is flexible and balanced, yet principled, in dealing with the myriad complications of missionary work. He is aware of developments in cultural anthropology and other fields that give assistance to missionaries.…
Perhaps we could call it a sanctified form of paranoia. In his Introduction to the Science of Missions , J. H. Bavinck calls attention to Israel’s striking awareness of being watched by the nations around them. If Israel perishes at Sinai, flamed by Yahweh’s wrath, the nations will blaspheme (Ex…
Perhaps we could call it a sanctified form of paranoia. In his Introduction to the Science of Missions , J. H. Bavinck calls attention to Israel’s striking awareness of being watched by the nations around them. If Israel perishes at Sinai, flamed by Yahweh’s wrath, the nations will blaspheme (Ex…
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