Reflecting on God’s providence, John Webster writes: ‘God’s governance secures the creature’s freedom. If this fails to commend itself, it is because it contravenes a destructive convention according to which true freedom is indeterminacy and absolute spontaneity or it is nothing at all. To say that is to deny creatureliness. Freedom is existence in accordance […]
God, Freedom, and Self-Definition Read Post »
The last few years have seen a fair share of books arguing that religion is the cause behind all that is wrong with the world. Although the Christian Church has undoubtedly had its hand in a number of morally dubious activities over the years, a more historical perspective suggests that this is only one side
The Compassion of Early Christians Read Post »
First as a pastor in Detroit and then as a seminary professor in New York, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) was an influential voice for Christian ethics in the twentieth century. The cross of Christ was a particularly important theme in his thought.1 In this passage from “The Christian Church in a Secular Age,” Niebuhr explains that
Repentance, the First Key to the Kingdom—Reinhold Niebuhr Read Post »
On Saturday November 19th 1836, Charles Simeon (1759-1836) was buried in a vault in the world-famous chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, England. Despite wanting a simple funeral, his was probably the most remarkable the town had seen. Every shop was closed and University lectures were suspended. An enormous procession saw eight Masters of colleges and
Charles Simeon: Influence that Affects Eternity Read Post »
Little did James Chalmers and his missionary colleague Oliver Tomkins know, as they waded ashore at Risk Point on Goaribari Island, New Guinea, that they were walking toward their deaths. It was Easter Sunday, April 8, 1901, and the villagers rejoiced at their arrival, inviting them into the newly constructed dubu (a communal house for
Missionary to the Cannibals—James Chalmers (1841 – 1901) Read Post »
In 1816, Harvard University published a circular letter in response to enquiries about admissions standards for ministry students. Candidates for admission, it said, “must be thoroughly acquainted with the grammar of the Latin and Greek languages” and “be able properly to construe and parse any portion” of the Greek New Testament.1 Fast forward to the
The Decline of Biblical Languages Read Post »
