These days the word cult is taboo. We don’t really identify Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses as cultists. Rather, we save it for the David Koreshes of the world. We save it for the mass murders who use religion to lure in their prey. But what do we call false religions, claiming to be Christian, and leading many... Continue Reading

Jane had ruled England for less than two weeks, during one of the most turbulent times of its history. Young King Edward VI had just died of a pulmonary illness, leaving unconfirmed orders for the installment of Jane to the throne. Taking advantage of strong popular support, Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s firstborn, swiftly gathered her... Continue Reading

One of Anselm’s greatest contributions to the church was his book answering the question, “Why did God have to become man?” The book, Cur Deus Homo, or Why God-Man?, explained the necessity of a sacrifice that could save people from their sins. To pay the debt of sin, the sacrifice must live a perfect life and... Continue Reading

The Advocate has an article calling into question the common understanding of Matthew Shepard’s 1998 murder. Almost immediately after Shepard’s death, people began to form the impression that the murder was a hate crime targeting a homosexual young man. Aaron Hicklin reviews a new book that challenges that narrative and says that the circumstances surrounding this crime were... Continue Reading

As a friendly outside observer of the P.C.A., it seems to me that she is so numerically large, so geographically diffuse, and has so many ministries and sub-organisations. Given the managerial complexity of such an organisation, one has to ask whether such a church can sustain a clear theological identity long term.  Or is it... Continue Reading

It never seems to dawn on him (and probably doesn’t dawn on most readers) that setting up man-made criteria about what we will accept as God’s authoritative word simply gives you a book that is man-made   Thus, regardless of what divine revelation Harvey ends up with, it will not be divine.  It will simply be a human creation. ... Continue Reading

I liked the NIV, and I wish I got to have a funeral of some kind for it. In the eulogy I would wax eloquently (new NIV: “discuss”) about how it brought Scripture into the modern era, and freed translations from the grip of the Anglicans and the Victorians. I would shed a tear for... Continue Reading

While the title of this volume implies that the author may still be presenting this as an open question, the first chapter makes it quite clear that the answer in this volume will be “no”—are at least “no” in regard to any historical, traditional sense in which Christians have regarded the Bible as God’s holy... Continue Reading

Boutlon’s stated goal for the book is to present “a critical, constructive retrieval of Calvin’s reforming project, always with a view to how that project may be inherited and developed by Christian communities today.” He does exactly this, in my estimation, in a way that is both engaging and thought-provoking.   Life in God: John... Continue Reading

But, as Michael Winship argues in this deeply researched book, “historiographical excesses” should not be held against the puritans. They had strong ideas about church polity, and the settlers of New England did envision their congregations functioning as “little republics.”  That belief also shaped their view of the political order.   The scholarly study of the Puritans has been... Continue Reading