Let God be true and every hermeneutic a liar
John Walton appreciates Calvin, gleans from Vos, and his happy to draw from the ancient confessions - but he offers them no allegiance. Metanarratives and hermeneutical grids abound, but so do the interpretive pitfalls that come with them. Walton gets right to the heart of it saying, “The labels we use are the ones we are accountable.” All Bible reading should start with sound methodology. Dr. Walton just wants us to read our Bible faithfully, even if it means we can’t be card-carrying members of any one interpretive school. His hermeneutic is simple and one every Bible should adopt before all else: “The strongest interpretation is the one with the strongest evidence.”
What does Neo-Calvinism applied look like? 84 years of insight
Today we sit down with Jan Boer, an 84 year old Dutch/Canadian who is a translator of Kuyper, student of Evan H. Runner, and a missionary in Nigeria for over 30 years where neo-Calvinism was no theoretical exercise, but a world-and-life-view applied in the day-to-day of everyday life. Of neo-Calvinist philosophers, political theorists, and cultural commentators there are no end, but rare is the neo-Calvinist missionary and practioner who labor...
by Steve Bishop
Calvinism has strong roots in Wales (shown in dark green in the image). Calvinistic Methodism was significant in the eighteenth-century revivals in Wales. Key Calvinists such as Howell Harris of Trefecca (1714-1773) and Daniel Rowland from Llangeitho (1713-1790) played key roles in the revival. Although there has also always been strong links between Calvinism and education and Calvinism and politics in Wales, neo-Calvinism...
When Union & Theosis Shake Hands
“These themes of perfection, union with Christ, and the necessity of the incarnation point to the fact that Bavinck’s theology is profoundly ripe for the incorporation of the summative theme of theosis. This is the notion that humanity is meant to be united to and participate in the trinitarian life of God… There is a fundamental similarity between this element of Bavinck’s thought and the doctrine of theosis… Thomas F. Torrance’s doctrine of theosis, as a facet of his broader trinitarian theology, to highlight that not only do Bavinck and Torrance bear some surprising similarities, but also Torrance provides language helpful to reexamine Bavinck’s eschatological anthropology in light of the category of theosis”
Now that your "New Years Resolutions" have failed (or did they ever move beyond resolve?)
Social scientists tell us that by the time February rolls around each year, the resolutions that so many people pledged to pursue in the New Year have largely been abandoned. It’s hard to know precisely how the pandemic influenced resolutions heading into 2022, but undoubtedly many of us entered this year with things we’d like to see changed... Resolutions have a fascinating history, especially as it relates to the Christian church. The American theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was one of the more famous Christian resolvers...
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The Joyous Implications of A Proper View of Self & A High View of Christ
Realizing the Gospel is not just “true”, but it is actually truly wonderfully good news – not just in theory but in lived reality. Join is as Dr Gene Veith, author of “The Spirituality of the Cross: The Way of the First Evangelicals” (Concordia Publishing House), serves up what the...
“Let them Rule”
Listen in as we sit down with Dr. J. Richard Middleton to discuss the forest and the trees of being image-bearers, what should Image Bears be doing, God's purpose for the world, God's generosity, the great change that took place the moment God resolved to create humanity and good Jamaican...
Christ infuses purpose into every facet of the ordinary
Folding laundry. Weeding the garden. Cooking dinner. Changing diapers. Work in the home can seem so ordinary. Does any of it matter? Is there meaning in our most mundane moments at home? When the work of the home fills our days, it is easy to get disillusioned and miss God’s...
Before the Fall, we were all artists and poets
“Can our churches be beautiful again, and not just promote goodness and truth?... It’s one thing to make our work, our business, our arts and our political endeavors good and even ‘successful.’ It’s another to aspire to make them beautiful. It’s one thing to try to educate and raise our...
By Steve Bishop
There is a wide range of varieties of what has loosely been termed Calvinistic philosophy. This family tree is an attempt to identify some of these strands and their relationships. Inevitably, it is an oversimplification...
He Named things We Pastors, Creatives and Rank-and-Files Couldn’t Name
“The Bible became alive to Him, it was not as some Elizabethan artifact but as a living book, appropriate for the gritty lives of butchers, cement layers, radio-preaching mothers, and the drunks who lounged in the alley behind his father’s Butcher shop. People around the world were picking up books...
The Heart of Dogmatics: Christology and Christocentrism in Herman Bavinck
Listen in as we sit down with Dr. Bruce Pass and discuss his book “The Heart of Dogmatics: Christology and Christocentrism in Herman Bavinck”. Here we are guided by the hand of Bavinck and Dr. Pass into a Theology that is no mere academic hobby but where Theology is a...
By Steve Bishop
Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck were the main instigators of the movement that became known as neo-Calvinism, however, they stood on the shoulders of others. One of these was Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801–1876). Harry van Dyke describes him as a “godfather” to both Kuyper and Bavinck; and Bratt describes...
"Sanctification" or "Transformation by Participation"?
We need to say more about this transformation, which in classic theology is usually called sanctification. We differ from this tradition on terminology but not as to content. In fact, by using “transformation,” we hope to inject the concept with new meaning. As we further reflect on the nature of...