Moses confronts pharaoh

Tom Hervey There is a common idea in the contemporary Presbyterian Church in America that our people should be winsome, particularly in their polemics and intra-denominational disagreements. Thus we find, for example, two Covenant College professors lauding a controversial figure in the denomination as winsome in the course of aContinue Reading

sin

[The] gospels do not speak at length or even frequently about Jesus “hanging out” (as people say) with prostitutes or even with sinners. When we account for the repetition of the same narratives in the synoptic gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark and Luke), we can focus on three passages: Matthew 9:10, 32-32; and LukeContinue Reading

An olive tree

There is much more to “end-times” or ultimate things (eschatology) than what we say actually happens in the last days. We say what we do about eschatology because of what we think God is doing in history. At the centre of the debate is the question of “the Israel ofContinue Reading

tranquil lake scene

All forms of the social gospel that pervaded the mainline churches in America throughout the twentieth century were built on the idea that Jesus’ death was primarily concerned with world peace and the reconciliation of men to men through the example of Christ. This is not the teaching of theContinue Reading