Here is a brief thought project prompted by several years of teaching the new members class at my home church (an Evangelical Free Church of America congregation that appeals to serious-minded conservatives). This is not the way I teach the subject in the class, but it is how I've been connecting some of the dots about membership recently.
What is church membership? Specific...
Read More...
It’s ironic that the words “evangelicalism” and “ecumenism” are seen as diametrically opposed, because Christians really need both. The former camp majors on truth, while the latter on unity. Why is this?
Evangelicals hold to the evangel, i.e. the Gospel, which is often interpreted as doctrine (though I would argue that those are slightly different despite there ...
Read More...
John Wesley (1703–1791) launched a religious movement, but he didn't write a theology. Instead, he preached a lot. His masterpiece is the Standard Sermons, and that's where you have to look to find out what he was about as a world-changing preacher. Just look at the first paragraph of his first sermon, and you can catch a glimpse of why his ministry changed the course of his...
Read More...
Kent Eilers at the Theology Forum blog recently posted part of a 1972 sermon by Wolfhart Pannenberg. As Eilers points out, Pannenberg has a public image as a high-level academic theologian who cultivates dialogue with the most rigorous contemporary thought, so it's hard to picture him going to the pulpit and speaking to a non-academic audience of Christian believers. But Pa...
Read More...
Today (February 20) is the birthday of Thomas Cardinal Cajetan (1469-1534), an Italian Dominican cardinal active during the Renaissance and early Reformation era.
His birth name was Giacomo de Vio, but when he became a Dominican he took the name Tomasso (perhaps after the famous Dominican Thomas Aquinas, whose work he would devote himself to expounding). Then when he became ...
Read More...
Tiger Woods messed up badly. The most famous and wealthiest athlete in the history of the world had a tremendous fall from grace when he cheated on his wife. It all came out around Thanksgiving last year, and today he finally issued a public apology after having been in therapy and counseling for the past few months (and he will continue for an indefinite amount of time). Th...
Read More...
Americans too often worry more about what we call people than how we treat them.
The term “retarded” has outlived any usefulness, having turned into an insult, but the more important problem is how we treat differences in mental acuity.
I have known people who labored hard to give dignity to those with different abilities who used antiquated jargon that would horrify ...
Read More...
Featured Essay
America has been blessed many times throughout its history with remarkable leaders. Winston Churchill, who many know as the Prime Minster of Great Britain during WWII, was keenly interested in American history. He was interested in American history partly because his mother was an American, but fundamentally because he believed that history gave insight on the pursuit of stat...
Read More...
One of the many clichés of book titling is the "____ is a verb" trick. It's supposed to grab your attention, be a little disorienting, and suggest that _____ is full of unexpected action and energy. For example, a quick search shows that "Life is a Verb," "News is a Verb," "Friendship is a Verb," and, somehow, even "Elvis is a Verb." It's unclear to me how any of those nouns a...
Read More...
Cotton Mather, American Puritan, was born yesterday and died today. That is, he was born on February 12 in the year 1663, and died February 13 in the year 1728.
Mather kept a voluminous diary which would be worth reading just for its historical value, since he was on the scene for so many important events in colonial America. But Mather was also sharp: a sharp-eyed observer,...
Read More...
Today (February 12) is the day in 1691 that Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection died. He is remembered for the spiritual writings which have been published as The Practice of the Presence of God, and he is famous for describing how to commune intimately with God while working hard in the kitchen.
He was born in 1614 as Nicholas Herman in Hériménil, France, and after fight...
Read More...
The name Charles Caldwell Ryrie calls to mind a very conservative theologian who has specialized in dispensationalism, insisted on inerrancy, and gotten involved in theological dust-ups like the one between "lordship salvation" vs. "free grace." One could easily get the image of hard-headed fundamentalist fighter. I've never met Ryrie, and don't know anything about his personal...
Read More...
