THE Reformed faith includes reference to total inability, unconditional election, the limited efficiency of Christ’s satisfaction, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints not as the sum total of the church’s confession, but as elements that can be understood only in the context of a larger body of teachingContinue Reading
THE one thing political science professors (I earned a BA in political science, University of Nebraska, 1984) think they know about John Calvin (1509–64) is that his doctrine of predestination created grave doubts in the hearts and minds of his followers, and they sought to relieve this doubt and demonstrateContinue Reading
Nature and grace are distinct things. Nature is good as created by God, but it is not saving. Only grace brings salvation and the revelation of the same. Nature is good. It does not need to be perfected, nor should it be obliterated. Nature, particularly human nature, needs to beContinue Reading
The emerging and emergent movements seek to be “postmodern”. In fact, to the degree that they begin with human autonomy, with versions of rationalism (e.g., in their denial of the atonement), in subjectivism (e.g., in their hermeneutic and quest for the immediate encounter with God), they are not postmodern asContinue Reading
Eugene Osterhaven called this “the most difficult and disputed” article in the confession. The desire to revise this article has existed in the Reformed churches in both the Netherlands and in the USA since the late 19th century, and revision has come in fits and starts. Further, there is noContinue Reading
As socio-religious phenomena, Theonomy and Christian Reconstruction are closely related. The individuals involved in the one are ordinarily involved in the other. However, theologically and religiously, they can be distinguished. Christian Reconstructionists exist in a variety of forms, and are ordinarily united in their belief that the Western world, andContinue Reading
A Christian critique of postmodernism (and theories like critical race theory) is not purely negative, as it begins with the recognition that truth-claims cannot be divorced from a story about all of reality. A careful Christian apologist must: (a) clearly set the Christian story against the postmodern alternative; (b) showContinue Reading
According to Augustine, the distinction between the two cities — the city of God and the city of man — is grounded in the two loves: love of God and love of self. The former leads to genuine fellowship and a communion of mutual giving and receiving, while the latterContinue Reading
Like it or not, our present lives cannot escape what is trending. Whether it is a kitten on a piano or a drone strike in Iraq, our smartphones bombard us with trends. Many of these last as long as a snowflake on a warm windshield, tickling us briefly only toContinue Reading
A major issue facing Christian theology today is the question of power. On the wider cultural level, the postmodern critique of thinkers such as Jean-François Lyotard, Jacques Derrida and especially Michel Foucault contains the charge that all claims to truth, including the claims of theology, are merely secret bids forContinue Reading