East-Bound, West-Bound, Hide-Bound

In this post, I want to concentrate, not on the need for doctrinal integrity in the abstract, but on the need for men of doctrinal integrity in the leadership of the Church. Doctrinal integrity is not a self-enforcing ideal. Men must hold to the standards of the church, understand them, love them, and defend them. …

Am I Missing Something?

Thus far I have seen that Bishop Tutu has called for Mugabe’s ouster in Zimbabwe, as President Sarkozy of France has also done. Well done for both those gents. I would call for it too if anybody cared. But I have not yet seen that Bishop N.T. Wright has taken this necessary step, although I …

A Large Part of Acts

“The sermons of the apostles, of which there are so many fine examples in Acts (they make up one-fifth of the book), are not therefore, incidental additions to the account, chosen arbitrarily for the purposes of narrative ‘color’. These sermons are cited to emphasize the central role preaching played in the witness of the apostles …

Not the First Time We’ve Been Here

“Although it began at a time when the older idealistic view was already being replaced by a sensate mentality, the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century reasserted an ideational worldview, placing great emphasis upon God, his will, and his Word . . . The Protestant Christianity of the Reformation represented a far-reaching effort to reverse …

Same Faith, Different Feet

Lane and I continue our discussion. First, on baptism. Lane wonders what “formally” means when we say that baptism formally unites a person to Christ. He then says that if this means that baptism “puts one into the visible community of the people of God.” Well, that is what it means, with this one proviso. …