Theology

In recent years I have heard and read various criticisms of the Puritans and (rather surprisingly) Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress . Bunyan’s “dream” is certainly not a perfect system of theology by any stretch of the imagination, but if it leaves you cold then I would be very interested in what makes...

On a recent visit to a bookstore in Gothenburg, I came across an early edition of Bonaventure’s commentary on Lombard’s Sentences . The following week in Copenhagen I bought a 1586 edition of Thomas’s Summa . Re-visiting those works caused me to ask myself, “Where have all the theologians gone...

Following the fall of the Cambridge Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary has slipped from the same cultural precipice only to dashed on the blunt rocks of wokeness below. The evidence? A secondary definition has been added to define the word female. Now, claims the book that is...

Welcome to Ref21! It probably sounds strange to be welcomed to a page that you have read for nearly twenty years! Ref21 has been a staple of daily Christian reading for literally thousands of believers. So, why act as if we are meeting for the first time? The answer is, we are. My name is Jeff...

How do you envision a triune God carrying out the divine missions? Do you picture the Son and Spirit departing the throne room—lunchboxes in hand—only to return to Heaven in the evening and report to the Father? If so, how might we understand our communion with God or the presence of Jesus in the...

What Hath Athens to Do With Jerusalem? What does philosophy have to do with theology, the Church, and Christian doctrine? Should Christians be interested in philosophy, and—if so—why? To address these questions, Jonathan and James invited a good friend and former colleague. Bob LaRocca is an...

Things have shifted a bit, as James is now thriving on the West Coast while Jonathan remains in the Southeast. Regardless of the distance and time difference, both are delighted to welcome a friend and former colleague Gary E. Schnittjer. Gary joins them to discuss one of the most anticipated books...

Learning about the battle between popes and civil authorities in medieval Europe feels a bit like an episode of Oprah’s show: “You get excommunicated; you get excommunicated; everyone gets excommunicated.” Of course it famously culminated in Henry VIII finally not going along with the program and...

Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens (Rom. 9:18). In the well-known story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, God is described as hardening Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh disobeys God. In point of fact, ten times God is said to harden Pharaoh’s heart, six times it...

PCRT and Praying to the Triune God The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is renowned for its long-standing yearly conference: PCRT, the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology. Once again, the event has been compelled to move online due to COVID restrictions. This year’s PCRT theme is...