“My point here is simply that Calvinism provided a detailed chart of the spiritual life for Elizabethan and seventeenth century English Protestants, and that this map also afforded fundamental direction to the major religious lyric poets” (Lewalski, Protestant Poetics, p. 14).
Faith Overcomes the World
“God’s plan is to save through the gospel not those who are clever and learned, but those who believe. The condition of salvation is faith, not intellectual brilliance” (John Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait, p. 110).
Flaunting the Body She Thought She Had
“I enter the [pub]. Everyone is shouting, but still no one can make himself heard (which perhaps is just as well). Twenty televisions blare: eight each playing two different songs (one rock and one reggae), and four relaying a wrestling match. Ten seconds of this and one feels one has a food mixer inside one’s …
Creation Law and Redemption Law
“We may divide the law of the Old Testament into two basic categories, those of creation law and redemptive law. Creation law is that which looks the same throughout the history of the world. The definition of marriage and adultery did not change in the transition between the old and new covenants. Theft looked the …
Don’t Give the Agenda to Quarrelers
“Our case would be miserable if we were at the mercy of every quarreler, bound to answer whatsoever he please to put forth. But let us tend to our work” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 309).
He Will Stand Before Kings
Chapter seven, “The Tie That Divides,” was informative and quite good. In it Darryl traces the rise of the Protestant ecumenical movement in the mainline denominations, along with the evangelical attempts to counter it, whether by competition or by withdrawal. There is not very much to differ with here, so I won’t try to gin …
Rene Girard and N.T. Wright
Those with a conservative background who start reading Girard are struck by how much he “gives away” with regard to the integrity of the scriptural text. That is fine—we ought to notice it. At the same time, it would be a very great mistake to identify him as some kind of liberal. Once you get …
Gladness or Gloating
I said last week that this was the last of our exhortations on civic affairs, at least for a while, but I was off by one week. There is one other set of comments that needs to be made. First, it would be wrong of us to let this election pass by without giving thanks …
Ordinary Means, Extraordinary Results
We come here to eat and drink. But this is not food from our cupboards at home—this is heavenly food. But it is not heavenly food because there is anything ethereal or magic about the food itself—this is ordinary wine and this is ordinary bread. So how then is it extraordinary? If this is ordinary …
Truth Is Wine
Green Baggins liked my chapter on blessings and curses (in the main), but wanted me to clarify something, which I am happy to do. Incidentally, I was blessed by Lane’s last paragraph, where he summarized my position in a way I would be happy to own. May the Lord hasten the day where we see …