“Machen’s concern for history, however, is broader than just the biblical story and its importance for doctrine.  Because he held to a high view of the church as an institution, and of her offices, officers and confessions, history was inevitably of vital importance to the particularities of Christian belief and practice in the present.”  ... Continue Reading

Any book written by Marilynne Robinson will sell, and that may be the problem. “The Givenness of Things” is billed as a collection of essays, but it consists preponderantly of discursive half-baked musings. Ms. Robinson prefaces one of her many inchoate ideas by admitting—I suppose in this case to her credit—“My thoughts on the subject... Continue Reading

Among the victims was Garrett Swasey, a 44-year-old campus police officer for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The Washington Post profiles Swasey’s role at Hope Chapel, a nondenominational evangelical church, where he served as a co-pastor for seven years and played on the worship team.   Police confer at an intersection near the scene of... Continue Reading

Seventies: How do I handle the sense of loss? Questions of grieving and rearranging. Eighties: What can I offer a world that sees me as feeble and obsolete? Living with obscurity. Nineties: How do I deal with end of life issues? What is my legacy? How will I die? Who will remember me?   On... Continue Reading

Woodrow Wilson’s views were appalling—his published, philosophically founded, intellectually consistent views. But if the campus activists were at all interested in understanding, not just denouncing, they would follow the trail from Wilson’s racial views to the progressivism and scientific of his day that continue to misshape our own views of human worth.   College and... Continue Reading

The relationship between Christ and the church is the pattern. Does Christ submit to the church so that somehow the church does not submit to Christ in everything? No, Christ does not submit to the church, but he does love the church, sacrificially so to the point of death…. The note in the ESV Study... Continue Reading

Personally, I think the advert is great, and that the brouhaha will cause more people to watch it in the end anyway. But as to whether it is offensive, I have to come out and say it: the secularists are right. The Lord’s Prayer is not mild, inoffensive, vanilla, listless, nominal, wishy-washy or wallpapery. If... Continue Reading

Social media, however, has been quite different. While the mainstream media has refrained from reasonable coverage of the videos that expose Planned Parenthood, social media has not. Millions of Americans have learned about Planned Parenthood’s practices, its willingness to change abortion procedures to procure more organs, the callousness of those who encourage such human organ... Continue Reading

“During the course of his 57-year career, Kuyper started two newspapers, founded an influential political party, helped create a new denomination, started a university, was elected as his nation’s prime minister, and authored numerous important books.”   Have you ever heard of a theologian being so well-known that his birthday was a national holiday? The... Continue Reading

“Treating people with dignity may require treating them as individuals with individual needs. A beloved family member whose interests are looked after—that constitutes dignity,” Diekema said. He insists the risk of a slippery slope doesn’t necessarily mean action should be avoided.   (WNS)–Many parents have lamented their children growing up, with a joking wish they... Continue Reading