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 him as “something of a surrogate father to Kuyper”. He was visited by several abolitionists from Britain. They had heard of his ideas for social reform, they hoped he would become “Holland’s Wilberforce”. Many of Groen’s embryonic ideas were taken up and developed by Kuyper...
"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 this transformation, we must start at its source: our participation in Christ. In our justification we are delivered from any pressure to do things—from all efforts to free ourselves from the burden and melancholy of our existence. We relinquish the endless, tiring attempts to prove ourselves so as to deserve our true identity in submission to Christ (see Matt 11:28). Christ appreciated and still appreciates our value; we therefore embody that value, even if that does not correspond with how we feel
A Baptized Imagination of Storytelling
“I immediately saw that neither pious homilies or straightforward religious education were cutting it. Instead, I brought in albums, video and newspaper clips. By exploring the stories behind pop music, entertainment and sports reporting with them I was able to unpack the underlying worldview. Not only does this approach work, it works without any complaints of preaching or indoctrination. Vital in today’s pluralist society. Stories are disarming!... We’ve used the same approach to name and shame the individualistic and materialist belief system that mugs so many today.” – Mark Roques
Worship as A Pot Luck vs. Worship as Fast Food
“Our weary hearts long to hear the gospel reverberate around us in surround sound. We hear the voices of our fellow church members and remember that were not in this alone. God has welcomed us into his family.” Listen in as we sit down with Matt Merker, author of “Corporate Worship: How the Church Gathers as God’s People” (Crossway, 2021), asking him about all things worship/singing at church.
A Faith of Half-Truths
Not long ago, Dr. Michael Kruger came across a list of ten principles set forth by proponents of progressive Christianity. They are, in effect, a new Ten Commandments. What’s striking is that they are far less about God revealing his desires and far more about man expressing his own—less Moses, more Oprah.
Yet each of these “commandments” is partially true. Indeed, that is what makes this list, and progressive Christianity as a whole, so challenging. Half-truths can sound quite appealing until you recognize their foundations and implications. In connection with Dr. Kruger’s booklet, The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity (Cruciform Quick), listen in as Dr. Kruger diagnoses and critiques a few of these tenets and offer a brief biblical and theological response.
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Interview with Sean Cole
I’m a very task-oriented person and I resonate with being told what to “do” in order to “get busy” serving Jesus. I didn’t have that great of a grasp on who I was in Christ. In seminary, one of my professors heavily emphasized “being before doing” and that has stuck...
Interview with Michael Bird
Knowing the world behind, in, and around the New Testament enables us – in movie terms – to see things in digital, colour, three dimensional precision. It adds clarity, depth, realism, and clarity. You just understand the New Testament better and are less prone to weird anchronisms...
Thoughts to those who identify as Christians but have given up on church
If you’re “done” with church and institutional religion, the main thing I want to say to you is: I get it. I’ve been there. I see it too. I’ve also experienced it – more than I wish were the case. Churches can be very proud, judgmental, inward-focussed, exclusivist social or...
Interview with Gerald McDermott
...even when sexual intercourse seems fulfilling to each partner, both are sometimes left with a thirst for more. If not physical fulfillment, then more emotional and spiritual union with each other.
The Consummate Orthodox Outsider
O’Connor’s intense religious devotion, along with her father’s death when she was only a teenager, and then her own long struggle with lupus, are some of the crucial elements of her life that formed and informed her writing and gave her the uncommon voice she is rightly celebrated for (and...
Interview with Danny Olinger
Vos would emphasize the Old Testament is a book of redemption that bears an organic connection to the salvation that has come in Jesus Christ. There is no separation between the Old Testament work of God and the work of Jesus. The two constitute a single body of supernatural revelation...
Dear Troubled Believer, I see you.I know it feels like you’re army-crawling through morning and afternoon. I know how your soul slinks on the ground, breathing in the dust, while everyone around you seems free as birds in the breeze. They don’t understand the willpower it takes to do the...
Interview with Rowland Ward
What would have happened if Adam and Eve never ate from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden? It’s a hypothetical question since they did eat, but the parallel with the last Adam, Jesus Christ, shows that obedience would ultimately have led to...
by Pierce Taylor Hibbs
My friends, God has marked the entire world, the entire cosmos, with his personal presence, and it can’t help but “speak” of him. God, in other words, is a writer. He was the first writer. We write reality as we know it, and we write in his image. Apply this...