One area that has me thinking is simply the reason why we drink. I’ve often looked at the case for alcohol being such a staple in church history more on the level of necessity. With the poor water quality, drinking alcoholic beverages was a matter of health. And, yes, I’ve always looked at it as... Continue Reading

Nor is “professor of religions” what he does “for a living.” He is an associate professor in the Creative Writing program at the University of California, Riverside, where his terminal MFA in fiction from Iowa is his relevant academic credential. … What about that Ph.D.? As already noted, it was in sociology. I have his... Continue Reading

When it comes to other kinds of news, they pride themselves on putting out a high quality product with moderated editorializing. Yet when it comes to religion, the bar is considerably lowered. If NPR really were familiar with the state of academic Christianity– and do note that I’ve been referencing scholars from a variety of... Continue Reading

Historically we’ve been all too ready to grant the unbeliever’s self-assessment—as if it weren’t radically affected by sin—and then seek to stand on that self-assessment with him. This is foolish. His unbelief only has meaning in light of his knowledge of God and its suppression, so it’s incumbent on us to first of all recognize... Continue Reading

Everhard takes up the 1647 version of the Westminster Confession of Faith, a document of some weight and significance for Reformed Christians. His choice of this version of the Confession, over other ones, makes his book useful for the various flavors of Presbyterians in the United States and throughout the West. But the fact that... Continue Reading

The book describes a Europe under threat from terrorists, from anarchists, dynamiters and assassins. To meet the threat, London’s Metropolitan Police have formed an elite anti-anarchist squad, tasked to infiltrate the enemy. Following up a chance conversation, undercover detective Gabriel Syme attends a meeting of the General Council of the Anarchists of Europe, and is... Continue Reading

Though most will doubtlessly disagree with at least a few of Storms conclusions (I doubt all readers will be convinced of his partial preterist interpretation of Matthew 24, for instance), it will be impossible to suggest any longer that amillennialism is built upon either a lesser view of the authority of Scripture in particular, or... Continue Reading

The good news, though, is that Foxnews.com posted a critique of Zealot by pastor/author John S. Dickerson (see WORLD’s review of Dickerson’s The Great Evangelical Recession), who noted, “Zealot is not new work from a historian. It is a sophisticated presentation of views that Muslims have held about Jesus for more than 1,000 years. [It... Continue Reading

William M. Schweitzer convincingly criticizes Keller’s use of C. S. Lewis’s depiction of hell as a place chosen by people who want to be away from God’s presence. Keller says, “No one ever asks to leave hell,” and Schweitzer is right to bring Matthew 7:21–22 to the forefront (74). He also uses Revelation 14:9–11 persuasively:... Continue Reading

Keller adopts a twofold answer to many questions. He wants to present doctrine to the “moderns” (usually older, more rural and less educated) one way, and to the “postmoderns” (usually younger, more urban and educated) in a different way. Keller’s presentations to the moderns is essentially old-fashioned orthodoxy, whereas his answer to the postmoderns include... Continue Reading