And yet this book also highlighted for me some significant differences between confessionally Reformed churches and the New Calvinism.  While there are many things we can appreciate about this movement, there are also points of departure.  They call themselves Calvinists, and in terms of the doctrine of salvation they are.  However, I’m quite confident that... Continue Reading

“In more than 30 minutes we discussed a day in the life of Calvin, the need to avoid idolizing our spiritual heroes, the benefits of collegial ministry, the occasions when other pastors challenged Calvin, the courage required to endure in ministry, and more. Manetsch also identified the one pastoral challenge that frustrated Calvin more than... Continue Reading

The reason I advocate for physical books isn’t that I think e-books are wrong, or in any way harmful. It’s just that technology isn’t a zero-sum game. Sometimes the best technology for the job isn’t the new one, it’s the old one. Smart phones make the Bible text readily available in the most unlikely places,... Continue Reading

To suppose that Mark’s omission of the virgin birth means he doesn’t believe in the virgin birth (and thus must not share Matthew and Luke’s Christology) is an unsustainable line of reasoning. After all, Mark doesn’t even include a birth account!  Should we conclude from that fact that he didn’t believe Jesus was born at... Continue Reading

This isn’t semantics or politics.  Rome understood the Reformation and she anathematized many of its major emphases: bondage of the will, justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, the sacraments, and so forth.  Though I am a Protestant who strongly disagrees with Trent and many of the doctrines of Rome (and therefore... Continue Reading

This is a very timely book because it seems that in an effort to combat liberal theology and feminism, the conservative church may have narrowed their focus a bit on the whole woman issue. As thankful as I am for some very helpful teaching on biblical womanhood, I am afraid that we may have become... Continue Reading

Not surprisingly, one of the major tenets in Ehrman’s argument is that Jesus never considered himself to be God, nor ever claimed to be God. In order to make his case, Ehrman summarizes his arguments from his book, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (Oxford, 2001), and says that Jesus just viewed himself as an apocalyptic... Continue Reading

The greatest delight I had from reading Reformed Dogmatics was in the undeniable clarity of the writing and argumentation that Vos employs. It is common to think of Vos as primarily a biblical theologian. His most important works that have been published so far have been in this vein. But the simple clarity of Reformed Dogmatics causes me to... Continue Reading

At one time Green had apparently intended to be a minister and vestiges of a Christian worldview can be found in the book, but only vestiges. Mostly he teaches—well, I don’t know what he teaches. It’s not nihilism, but neither is it Christian hope and optimism. In a novel about illness and death, he makes... Continue Reading

Melling goes on to opine on the continuing stigma attached to abortion. Melling seems perplexed that after decades of feminist propaganda, people continue to feel an inexplicable moral repugnance towards abortion. Melling thinks that this is a sad state of affairs—given our post-modern enlightenment—and that movies like “Obvious Child” help folks to see that abortion really... Continue Reading