I recently saw a snippet of an interaction between Joel McDurmon and Mark Jones that made me think of something. And why not?, say I. It’s still kind of a free country. Why can’t I think of oblique stuff? So I offer this, not as my own engagement with their debate, but rather as a …
Damnation and Deficient Allegiance
A few days ago, Peter Leithart published a brief summary of Matthew Bates’ book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone. My musings here cannot be a fair rebuttal to Bates, since I have not read his book, and it is really not a rebuttal of Peter’s point either, because he largely limits himself to summarizing what he …
How Flocks Are Protected
Introduction: Scripture teaches that the flocks of God are precious, and they are precious because of what it took to purchase them. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own …
The Invisible Mainspring of Human Conflict
Introduction: And now for a little intellectual history—my own, that is. This can be read by friend and foe alike with edifying pleasure. My friends can discover how I learned these wonderful things and my foes can discover what messed me up so bad. First consider the base coat of my theological assumptions that were …
Straight Outta Calvin
It is only natural that there are some federal vision questions. Of course there are. I have been asked a number of times what the response has been to my Federal Vision No Mas post. As best as I am able to gauge, there have been three visible responses. The first has been relief and …
Doug and Evan
Introduction: So to help make sense of this portion of my story, I have to set some dates that will serve as doctrinal pegs as I proceed. I became postmillennial somewhere near the end of 1985. Three years later, in 1988, I became a Calvinist (although I refused to call myself that for several years …
Federal Vision No Mas
Introduction: I have decided, after mulling over it for some years now, to discontinue identifying myself with what has come to be called the federal vision. It used to be that when I was asked if I held to the federal vision, I would say something like “yes, if by that you mean . . …
Pauline, Not Paula
A few days ago, Michael Horton wrote a piece for The Washington Post headlined as “Evangelicals should be deeply troubled by Donald Trump’s attempt to mainstream heresy.” This is certainly true, and I am troubled by it. On top of that, I appreciated the historical sketch of the Word of Faith movement that Horton laid …
The Divine Glory, Welterweight Division
“This is not a [book] to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” Attributed to Dorothy Parker I believe I mentioned in passing that I recently picked up Greg Boyd’s God at War. I was pursuing more information on the divine council, having read Michael Heiser’s fine books on that topic, …
Dialogue on The End of Protestantism
Earlier today, New St. Andrews hosted (and videotaped) a discussion/interaction between Peter Leithart and me on the theme of his latest book, The End of Protestantism. These are my opening remarks. I will let you know when NSA has the video posted. The question before us is: “Does the gospel require us to pursue and …