Finally, as I have been agitating for throughout my career, modern-day Christians are discovering George Herbert, whom I consider to be the greatest and most spiritually satisfying Christian poet. Now Wesley Hill writes about him in Christianity Today.
If you want a guide to Herbert’s poetry–what he is doing aesthetically, theologically, and spiritually–you should read my book on the subject, which is newly brought back in print, another sign of the Herbert revival. (more…)
Calvinists sum up their theology, as well as their Dutch connections, with the acronym TULIP. That stands for Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints.
Southern Baptists are currently in the midst of a controversy between their Calvinist members and their more Arminian brethren. So to compete with the TULIP faction, as Bill Leonard reports, the non-Calvinist Baptists have come up with a flower of their own: POINSETTIA. That stands for “Pursuit unconditional, Own guilt, Inclusive atonement, Natural responsibility, Spontaneous regeneration, Election available, Temperate foreknowledge, True freedom, Indestructible security, Almighty gospel.”
The doctrine of vocation, in its different versions, seems to have come back to Christendom. In fact, people are now speaking of a Faith and Work movement! Recently, a whole channel on the topic was started here at Patheos. You should check out the blogs on that channel that are devoted exclusively to this topic, though they approach vocation from different perspectives, not always as Lutherans would recognize the term. (At some point, I might do some posting there to bring in the Cranach perspective.)
A leader in the Faith and Work movement is Greg Forster, who has recently made the important point that those concerned with “Faith and Work” must keep it grounded in our justification by Christ. (more…)
Last Sunday, our pastor preached on the text about the apostles’ lottery for who would take Judas’s place among the Twelve (Acts 1:12-26). Joseph-called-Barsabbas-called Justus was the apostolic loser. Later, he couldn’t even get elected to be a Deacon! But tradition said that he would die as a martyr to the faith, which was the same fate as that of the apostolic winner, Matthias. The sermon turned into a profound exploration of vocation. (more…)
More from my interview with Mathew Block, in which a question about Christians refusing to attend to music, movies, books, or the like unless they are explicitly Christian, leads to a digression on the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. (more…)
More from my interview with Mathew Block, who asks about the connection between the imagination and the fine arts. (more…)
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