Man’s Universal Desire For Regeneration: Reflections on ‘Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age’ by Bill McKibben
On the last two pages of the first volume of Jonathan Edwards’ collected works resides a small yet significant piece of writing. It is entitled, “Theological Questions,” and contains ninety inquiries into many topics apparently posed by Edwards himself and collected into a document. Questions include queries from, “How do you prove that the Scriptures [...]
The Awesome Three-In-One: How the Doctrine of the Trinity Affects our Worship
The doctrine of the Trinity, expressed seminally in Church creeds and continually defended in each generation’s own theological context, is a precious and glorious doctrine. Yet, it is not enough for the doctrine of the Trinity to remain merely in the realm of creedal affirmations and theological nuance-no doctrine in the Bible was ever meant [...]
Book Review: ‘The Great Exchange’ by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington
I have been a fan of Jerry Bridges for several years. I was first introduced to Bridges when I picked up Transforming Grace—a warm and refreshing treatment of the grace of God and how we can practically apply the liberating truth of God’s grace to our daily lives. Then I read The Pursuit of Holiness, [...]
History, Theology, and Edwards’ Devotion to the Bible
Jonathan Edwards is well-known for his devotion to Scripture; not only for his commitment to biblical doctrine, but also for his deriving that doctrine from its original source: the Scriptures themselves. In Edwards’ two volume collected works, there is a massive 140 page section entitled ‘Notes on the Bible,’ which contains over 1500 numbered entries [...]
How to Waste Your Theological Education
1. Cultivate pride by writing only to impress your professors instead of writing to better understand and more clearly communicate truth. 2. Perfect the fine art of corner-cutting by not really researching for a paper but instead writing your uneducated and unsubstantiated opinions and filling them in with strategically placed footnotes. 3. Mistake the amount [...]
Book Review: God’s Greater Glory by Bruce A. Ware
God’s people throughout the centuries have struggled to understand the relationship between God’s sovereignty and our human responsibility. Recently, some theologians have developed a theological framework most commonly referred to as “Open Theism,” in order explain the apparent paradox that exists between the twin realities of God’s divine rule and our human freedom. This framework [...]
Book Review: The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin; edited by Tony Lane
When John Calvin wrote the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, it was intended to be a “simple handbook of Christian doctrine” (14). Just prior the time it was to be published, however, Francis I, the king of France, unleashed a “fierce campaign of repression” (14) against French Protestantism. In light of [...]
Nuance
Nuance is a word Christian lay people and theologians alike should cherish. A nuance is defined as a “subtle distinction or variation.” In theology, nuances usually develop from a need to better clarify a particular teaching and often carry significant doctrinal weight. For example, take the doctrine of justification. We would be correct in stating [...]
Review: Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen, Part III
Part I – Introduction and Summary of the Book Part II – Strengths and Weaknesses Yet, we must not fault him too much here. Despite this weakness, Machen’s book remains a helpful tool in understanding not only the reality of liberalism and its inherent dangers, but also in training our minds to clearly see the [...]
Review: Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen, Part II
On the whole, Machen’s work is commendable and worthy of emulation in several respects. The first area of strength in this treatise that perhaps could go unnoticed in light of more explicit strengths, is Machen’s courage to deal with this particular issue. It is rarely ever easy to approach controversy and deal with important theological [...]
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