I do not have the space here to summarize the nine missteps Shaw identifies, and I want to give you a good reason to go and read the book – which every thoughtful Christian should do. But I do want to draw attention to what I take to be some of Shaw’s most important points.... Continue Reading

Joshua Harris has been reflecting a lot on the impact of his book. He’s heard from people who felt his writing taught them to be ashamed of their bodies and to feel guilty for having any sexual desires. The criticism came out recently on Twitter. One woman reached out and said the book was used... Continue Reading

The most popular are those that follow Icarus (rise-fall) and Oedipus (fall-rise-fall) arcs and stories that follow more complex arcs, which use the basic building blocks in sequence. Researchers also say that the most popular arcs are those that involved two sequential man-in-hole arcs and a Cinderella arc followed by a tragedy.   From Harry... Continue Reading

“Day after day I participated more and more vigorously with a penitent heart in morning meditation, the Mass, Friday adoration hour, and prayer before the Monstrance.  What else could I do since I was taught that cleansing myself was my responsibility?  I tried harder and harder.”   “[I] would say the rosary even more than... Continue Reading

Bird argues the creeds offer us the best interpretive lens for reading Scripture: “This is because the creeds should be regarded as a biblically generated tradition that meets with the consensus of the universal church about what the main teachings of the Christian faith are…The creeds provide a kind of “Idiot’s Guide to Christianity” by... Continue Reading

“What’s unfolding today is not a drama in which secularist progressivism is slowly but surely eclipsing antiquated religious faith at last, but a contest of competing creeds, and competing first principles. Only when we acknowledge that truth can we see that there is only one way out of this cantankerous, riven place.”   In her... Continue Reading

One of the major flash points in this debate is the term “righteousness of God.” Paul uses this phrase in a number of places, but it takes center stage particularly in Romans. Indeed, one might suggest that the “righteousness of God” is the theme of the entire book: “For in it [the gospel] the righteousness... Continue Reading

Since God has “put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecc. 3.11), people know there is such a thing as true joy and rest.  But since humans are sinful and fallen (Rom. 3), we sinfully think we can find joy and rest in the diversions and distractions of this passing away world.   In several different places of his... Continue Reading

Augustine, our great North African father, said that each Psalm had a ‘single body of feeling that vibrates in every syllable’. As Peter Brown has noted, Augustine believed that each Psalm could be presented as a microcosm of the whole Bible — the clear essence of Christianity refracted through in the exotic spectrum of Hebrew... Continue Reading

“Campi is an internationally respected scholar who is published in English, French, Italian, and German. This volume makes his valuable research accessible to English students of historical theology.”   Emidio Campi’s, Shifting Patterns of Reformed Tradition, Reformed Historical Theology vol. 27 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014) is an outstanding collection of essays that illustrates unity... Continue Reading