This is the second in a series on The Shema (Deut 6.4-9)  וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃ 5 And you [sing] shall love YHWH your [sing] God with all your heart [includes the mind] and with all your soul/life/physical existence, and with all your strength/material possessions The Hebrew word for “heart” (levavka) is very different from the English word.  We tend to think of feelings, while the Hebrews used the word to think primarily of the mind.  That’s... Read more

The rabbis taught that the Shema (Dt 6.4-9) is the Constitution of the Tanach or Old Testament.  This is the first of a 6-part series on the Shema. שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה׀ אֶחָֽד׃ 4 Listen up, Israel. YWHW is our God, YHWH alone. Usually this is translated “YHWH is one” (NIV & ESV; only the NLB and NRSV get it right).  But this is probably not correct. (more…) Read more

Chad Raith II, After Merit: John Calvin’s Theology of Works and Rewards Gottingen & Bristol, CT: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016 Chad Raith is a professor of theology at John Brown University in Arkansas, where he hosts the annual Paradosis conference, which each year brings together Catholic, Orthodox, and evangelical scholars to discuss a single book of the Bible. His new book on Calvin’s doctrine of salvation charges that there is tension between Calvin’s accounts of works and rewards.  This suggests... Read more

Mark Regnerus is a brave sociologist. He has dared to endure the tsunami of abuse coming from his professional peers for saying what is plainly apparent to disinterested sociologists–that so far there is no indisputable evidence that kids raised by gays do just as well as kids raised by heterosexual parents. Here is his observation of the so-called “scientific consensus” that claims “no difference” between heterosexual and homosexual families. “What we have, rather, is a political consensus generated by lots of small... Read more

Christians already believe that the saints of the Old Testament, most of whom are Jews, are in the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore in communion with us, as the creeds teach.  No doubt we are in communion with the Jews of Israel who worship Jesus as messiah.  What about the many thousands (millions) of Jews down through history who have loved the God of Israel, who Jesus taught us is the only true God, but who have been unable to see... Read more

This is what a Chinese cardinal warns.  He says the communist government is tricking the Vatican, and Pope Francis is not used to dealing with communists.  The faithful in China will suffer, just as Cubans are now suffering from the pope’s naive dealings with the Castros.  For the Wall Street Journal story on this, keep reading. (more…) Read more

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) thinks so.  They cite his remarks on minorities, immigrants and women that have a “chilling effect on the rights” of students and professors “to speak out”; his call for an “ideological screening test” for immigrants; his desire to nominate a Supreme Court Justice like Antonin Scalia who might jeopardize university faculty unions; and his denial of climate change and “the validity of science itself.” Michael McClymond, professor of theology at St. Louis University, is not so... Read more

Many churches use liturgy.  Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and even some Baptists use liturgy.  More and more Christians are delighting in it.  But what exactly is it? Here is a little description written by this Anglican for other Anglicans.  But it might be useful for any Christian interested in the phenomenon.   Read more

Nicholas Wolterstorff has been a noble warrior in the field of philosophy of religion.  He has worked with Alvin Plantinga to lead the Society of Christian Philosophers, arguing philosophically that one can be an orthodox believer and do rigorous philosophy at the same time. Alas, we can no longer say that.  On October 13 he spoke publicly for the first time on homosexuality, advancing embarrassingly-weak arguments for the politically-correct position on marriage and sexuality. (more…) Read more

We at Beeson Divinity School are privileged this week to have Benjamin Kwashi, Anglican Archbishop of Jos, Nigeria, delivering to us the annual Reformation lectures. Yesterday he told us all something arresting. (more…) Read more