“According to Merritt’s account, in Gushee’s case it is also driven by a significant degree of personal experience and emotion, especially an understandable degree of sympathy with and concern for a sister struggling with same sex attraction.  Further, it must arguably involve the acceptance of sexual preference as a — perhaps even the — definitive... Continue Reading

“Whitefield’s early years of itinerant ministry in particular were marked with both incredible success and contention. Kidd carefully traces the Calvinist Whitefield’s tortured relationship with the Arminian Wesleys, who openly opposed the theological tenets that Whitefield held dear. Whitefield also broke with the Moravians, whose Pietism he had once admired.”   In time for the... Continue Reading

“In their thick new book, God’s Design for Man and Woman: A Biblical-Theological Survey (Crossway), Andreas and Margaret Köstenberger labor to demonstrate that, far from being a peripheral anomaly popping up here and there, male leadership and female partnership is a sustained pattern that spans the canon. It isn’t just about 1 Corinthians and 1... Continue Reading

“In 1522, Bullinger returned home to Bremgarten a new man. He continued his persistent study of Scripture along with his reading of the Church Fathers, Luther, and Melanchthon. The next year, he became the head teacher of the school at the Cistercian convent at Kappel. From 1523 to 1529, he instructed the monks from the... Continue Reading

“Few figures in church history have been so much loved or hated, admired or despised as John Calvin. Calvinism—the theological orientation bearing the French theologian’s name—has also had mixed reception. Reformed theologian Oliver Crisp, professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, says Calvinism and the Reformed tradition is more diverse and amiable than is... Continue Reading

“For decades China’s house churches tended to despise denominations but that has been changing rapidly as they face the need for institutional structure and better church practices in order to support the work of the ministry–defending the faith, practicing discipline, training up the children, ordaining ministers, sending out missionaries, and so on. Interestingly, their quest... Continue Reading

“I want to introduce you to the American jeremiad. That’s the term scholars have given to what one has called “a mainstream and deeply American way of thinking about the nation’s past, present, and future.”[1] The term comes from the prophet Jeremiah, who catalogued Israel’s fall from fidelity and warned of the horrible judgments to... Continue Reading

“I was raised to revere missionaries and support them. Over the years, many of my friends in the medical profession have given their time and talents to missionary hospitals around the globe. It never occurred to me that someone might consider medical missionaries to be pressuring “their patients, at moments of maximum vulnerability and desperation,... Continue Reading

That earthquake had three epicenters, one in Wittenburg with Martin Luther, another in Geneva with John Calvin, and still another in Canterbury with Thomas Cranmer. What were the contributions of each of these men? Wittenburg, Geneva, Canterbury. Luther, Calvin, Cranmer. An earthquake with three epicenters. The quake continues to roll.   Reformation Day 2014 The date... Continue Reading

Though preached clearly in the New Testament and found in the writings of many of the church fathers, the medieval bishops and priests had largely forgotten the truth that our own good works can by no means merit God’s favor. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and good works result from our faith,... Continue Reading