He Took Up Arms Against Liberalism
J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937)
Machen was cut off in the midst of a great work — the establishment of Westminster Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He hadn’t set out to found a seminary or a new church. But given who he was and what he stood for and what was happening at Princeton, where he had taught for... Continue Reading
Reformed Ethics Could Save Your Life
Ron Gleason traces Bavinck’s career teaching theology and ethics between Kampen and Amsterdam, but no one knew that a manuscript on ethics was preserved in the Bavinck archive.
Bavinck had prepared the manuscript for publication, yet several formal issues may have held him back from publishing the work (RE, 2019; xxxv, xli-ii). Along with the manuscript’s discovery by Dirk van Keulen, two additional manuscripts from Bavinck’s students have been uncovered, providing invaluable insights into his classroom presentation and support for translation. The wealth... Continue Reading
Preaching for a Verdict: A Book Review
If you preach regularly, you should read this book. Here are four reasons why.
“The call to exhort,” wrote Smith, “is the call to speak to the will of the hearer, not just to inform the mind of the hearer. It is pleading, persuading, and strongly urging the hearer to respond in obedience to the Word of God. It moves beyond suggested application into a definitive call to respond”... Continue Reading
Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ in the Westminster Standards: Book Review
The rush of books, articles, reviews, and even a hymnal that has flowed from the pen (or, more likely, keyboard) of Dr. Alan D. Strange has been a most appreciated and welcomed gift to the church.
Strange’s stated aim is to advance the argument that “while the Assembly may never have explicitly affirmed active obedience in what it finally adopted, nonetheless, the Westminster documents, taken as a whole, tend to affirm it” (2). He seeks to accomplish this by carefully considering both the original intent of the framers of the Westminster... Continue Reading
How on Earth Did Jesus Become God?
The challenge, argues Hurtado, is not simply explaining how Jesus was seen as divine by early Christians, but rather the challenge is explaining the manner in which he was seen as divine.
All the chapters in the volume are helpful, but the first two are the most foundational. In chapter one, Hurtado gives us the lay of the land by surveying the variety of other approaches to Jesus devotion within early Christianity, offering a brief critical review of each of them, so that his own approach can... Continue Reading
Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics
The human race is only now realizing what demons flew out of that particular Pandora’s box.
The long loneliness is seen in the woman who never had children in order to please a selfish husband, who then divorced her for a younger woman. It is there in the face of a sincere, but nerdy young man who can’t find a decent girl to marry or the faithful young woman who is... Continue Reading
O Come, Thou Day-Spring, Come and Cheerthe Presence of a Good Reputation
The sun has indeed come up again. Tomorrow is now today. And in the context of this song, this is Jesus.
Jesus is called the “Day-Spring.” The dayspring is the dawn – it’s that moment, which ebbs and flows according to the season, when light first breaks over the darkness. But it’s more than that – it’s the first sign every day of the dispelling of darkness. It is the daily reminder that the mercies of... Continue Reading
Why Small-Town Ministry Matters: A Review of “A Big Gospel in Small Places”
Yes, ministry in forgotten communities still matters.
A Big Gospel in Small Places is filled with a combination of quotes from the likes of Puritans and contemporary thought and statistics on ministry. There are many pastors in small places who need to be reminded that preaching a Bible-saturated, gospel-centered sermon to forty-five people matters. This book is oozing with that kind of... Continue Reading
How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics
Today’s identity crisis is part of a larger undoing.
I do not intend to provide a critical review of Eberstadt’s book, something which would take much more time and effort, and something which has already been done (such as this review by Carl Trueman). Instead, I wanted to offer a summary of the book’s main lines of argument and offer it as a very... Continue Reading
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
