Emblems of the Infinite King by J. Ryan Lister
Make no mistake – this is a serious book. And serious books have life-changing implications.
Emblems of the Infinite King strikes a biblical balance that celebrates orthodoxy but also warms the heart with imaginative prose and a compelling story. Each chapter describes a particular key that explains a doctrinal reality that ultimately leads to the throne of God. Dr. Lister presents each branch of systematic theology in the framework of the... Continue Reading
Our Master in Heaven
Your heavenly Master is looking down upon you, and he never forgets.
The Apostle tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, ‘Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men.’ There were two great motives urging the Apostle, driving him on, in all his travelling and preaching: ‘The love of Christ constraineth me’, and ‘knowing the terror of the Lord.’ Those two motives should always govern us... Continue Reading
Behold, the Lamb of God: Theology Proper and the Inseparability of Penal-Substitutionary Atonement from Forensic Justification and Imputation
Many factors contributed to the Protestant Reformation, but one of the most significant was the debate over the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
“In church history people have disagreed as to what justification is, and the purpose of this chapter is not to restate all the data for the Reformation’s view of justification as the biblical view. Numerous books have argued this case, along with other chapters in this book. Instead, I assume that the Reformation’s view of... Continue Reading
Beyond Authority and Submission: A Review
Miller is to be commended for continuing to press for clearer, more biblical, thinking and action.
Miller does deserve a great deal of credit for calling out certain gross errors within evangelical complementarian circles. In this area she has done sterling service to the church. Chief among these are the ESS doctrine with respect to the Trinity, and the various instances of abuse and neglect masking as forms of patriarchy. There... Continue Reading
Book Review of “Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament,” by Mark Vroegop
Lament is “a prayer in pain that leads to trust."
Everyone will face suffering in life, and the grace of lament helps Christians persevere. I recommend this book for anyone who is grieving or walking through suffering. Since every person daily interacts with the effects of sin upon the world, all believers will benefit from learning how to respond to sin and suffering with lament.... Continue Reading
How Will We Live Now? Francis Schaeffer’s “How Should We Then Live” After 40 Years
The collision between Kenneth Clark and Francis Schaeffer introduced me to the great collision of worldviews that became such a central interest and urgency of my life.
Years before words like “worldviews” and “truth claims” entered the common evangelical vocabulary, Schaeffer was introducing the terms and stressing their importance. He knew that the great conflict of worldviews was underway, and he cared deeply about a generation of young people who were even then deciding between Christianity or intellectual revolution. The year... Continue Reading
Oh, the Company We Keep!
The Teaching and Influence of Dr. Wesley Hill In and On the PCA
Deceitful desires have affected a theologian like Wes Hill, making him come up with twisted arguments with the goal of PCA churches embracing strange teaching. Those who agree with Dr. Hill rejoice in the progress they are making, as resistance to this doctrine declines in the already changing evangelical church (WW 22). In the PCA... Continue Reading
David Bentley Hart’s Lonely, Last Stand for Christian Universalism
A Review of "That All Shall Be Saved"
These pages breathe an atmosphere of weary resignation. Hart depicts himself as a lonely battler for the truth of universalism—which hardly seems to be the case, given that many academic theologians today share his views. Here’s another oddity: the total absence of joy in this book. Someone who is genuinely convinced that everyone is finally... Continue Reading
Eliezer: Faithfulness in Fulfilling a Trust
Servants we are, everyone of us, and a trust is committed to us all.
There can be no faithful service except there be love. And the form love takes in a ‘good and faithful servant’ is sure to be the form which meets us here: — I mean, an eager, anxious love identifying itself with the welfare of those it serves: a self-sacrificing, self-denying, self-forgetting love: — a love... Continue Reading
Why We Need a Children’s Book About Death
When it comes to sad things in life, we tend to wrap up their hearts in cotton wool and lock them away.
The preacher of Ecclesiastes tells us: “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart” (7:2). The living should take this to heart—which includes children, not just adults. Often, when we go to... Continue Reading
