Reformation21

The Beatitudes, according to Matthew, mark the beginning of Jesus' public teaching ministry. They are the first things that Jesus emphasized as he proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom. Unlike Moses at Mount Sinai, Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount, not with commandments, but with promises of God'...

This is the second part of James Renihan's essay on the scope of theology. To read part one, click here . The Scope of the Whole We have already cited the common language of the great English Protestant Confessions, Presbyterian, Independent and Baptist; we are now prepared to consider their...

I was once struck by a brief radio address given by a Jewish Rabbi on the morning of Yom Kippur. She spent the whole time allotted to her talking about Isaiah 58 and how it links to the deliverance of Israel in Jewish understanding. Very helpfully she reminded her audience that all ethnic Jews can...

There are many ways to think about God's attributes. They can be divided between those that affirm something about God and those that deny something about God, those that are communicable to creatures ( i.e. can exist in or be communicated to them somehow) and those that are incommunicable, and...

Theology on Target The Scope of the Whole (Which Is to Give All Glory to God) Part 1 On October 16, 1845, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote these familiar lines in a poem titled "The Arrow and the Song": I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the...

Is the conversation about God's attributes "old fashioned" and "western"? Regarding systematic theology, one often encounters the critique that the logical ordering of various topics is "western" or "Greek" or "academic"--all of which are really meant as synonyms for "bad" and "wrongheaded."...

As we remember the Reformation this week, those who stop to think about the anniversary (too few of us, no doubt) will probably either celebrate it as the birthday of the Protestant churches, or lament it as the beginning of a great schism that still divides the western church today. We will think...

The whole of the Christian life can be summed up in these two little words (favorites of the Apostle Paul): "in Him." Our union with Christ is the definitive aspect of our salvation and our status before God and others, and therefore our identity must be found in Christ. Of course, this is easier...

Recently, my friend Adam Parker wrote a helpful article reminding us that a pastor is not an hourly employee. In his article, Adam describes how the work of pastoral ministry is difficult to quantify and more time in the office does not equal a more effective ministry. He also offers a gentle and...