Why Conservative Churches Are Growing: David Brooks and the Limits of Sociology
What sociology cannot do is deal with the most important question of all — the truth question. By the late 1960s, liberal Protestants began asking a rather difficult question. Why were the conservative churches growing? In retrospect, one aspect of the liberal Protestant crisis was reflected in that very question. The mainline Protestant denominations would... Continue Reading
Do Less with Less: What the History of Federal Debt and Tax Leverage Teaches
The New Testament gives us a good standard for judging what responsible stewardship looks like, with respect to finances as well as other realities. As Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10... Continue Reading
Theological Fitness Part One: Aptitude
The Aquila Report introduces another new blogger to our family. Aimee Byrd is a housewife and mother who attends Pilgrim Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Martinsburg, WV. She and her husband, Matt, have 3 children. She blogs at Housewife Theologian where this article first appeared; it is used with her permission. We are currently studying the... Continue Reading
An Historical Sidebar on Confessionalism versus Pietism
In analysing the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, better categories to use are those of intellectualism and voluntarism. The Reformed Orthodox were not so concerned with pietist/confessionalist questions — I doubt they even had the concepts in any well-formed fashion. Exchanges between, among other, Messr Duncan, Hart, DeYoung and Evans (all theologians, not a firm of... Continue Reading
Is Easter Too Scary for Children?
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the Gospel. That’s the first word. If we cannot speak of that, we would be better off not speaking of Jesus at all, rather than presenting another Christ, one who meditates but does not mediate, who counsels but is not crucified, who is accessible but not triumphant... Continue Reading
Jesus Was Raised for our Justification
Rom. 4:25 tells us that Jesus was raised for our justification. Paul usually associates justification with Christ’s death. However, our justification is closely connected with Jesus’ resurrection. I like to point this out because many think of the resurrection primarily as related to our bodily or resurrection or our regeneration. While also true, we will... Continue Reading
Because He Lives! – The meaning of the Resurrection for our own present and future
Although I’m not a big fan of Gaither music, I can’t argue with their famous chorus. It is because He lives that I can face tomorrow without fear, and life at this present moment has meaning in light of the fact that He lives and holds the future. As we approach Easter Sunday my thoughts... Continue Reading
What the World Sees in America – It’s not all something to be proud of
Click. A person named Snooki totters down a boardwalk. She lives with young people who grunt and dance. They seem loud, profane, without values, without modesty, without kindness or sympathy. They seem proud to see each other as sexual objects. I want to talk a little more this holiday week about what I suppose is... Continue Reading
Neuhaus’ Law and the Forthcoming Intolerance in the PCUSA
“Where orthodoxy is optional, orthodoxy will sooner or later be proscribed …” Neuhaus’ Law I just read this Presbyterian Outlook article by Barbara G. Wheeler and John Wilkinson, pleading with orthodox Presbyterians to stick with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the face of the likely removal of biblical fidelity and chastity standards from the denomination’s... Continue Reading
Christian Conservatives and Randians – The Bible and Atlas Shrugged
We Americans have a long and proud history of overlooking religious differences while collaborating to produce a more prosperous society. What one believes about God or how one conceives of ultimate causation cannot be enforced by government. It is a matter of what the Puritans called “liberty of conscience.” According to a 1991 Book of... Continue Reading