I never tire of trying to persuade people that the University of Kentucky has the greatest basketball tradition in the history of collegiate basketball. Whenever the subject comes up, I repeat, without hesitation, the necessary arguments to make my case. Are you persuaded? Over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at making all those arguments…
In a certain sense, Christianity is amazingly simple. The story of the Christian faith is rooted in the beginning of the world. God created men and women to know him and enjoy him forever. But because Adam and Eve rebelled against their Creator, sin has passed down to every human being (cf. Rom 5:12; Ps…
Yesterday a friend of mine sent me a question one of his students had asked him in class. The student wanted to know how to reconcile Calvin’s definition of faith with that of the Westminister Confession of Faith (WCF). Here is how Calvin defines faith. “Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if…
Last year at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting in Denver, Reformed theologian J. V. Fesko offered a historical-theological critique of John Piper’s book, What is Saving Faith? (You can watch the debate here or read it here. Denny Burk offers a short summary here). Fesko argues that Piper fails to understand how the Reformed tradition…
In his book, God is the Gospel, John Piper opened my eyes to the ultimate aim of the gospel. That is, the good news brings me to God, my “exceeding joy” (Ps 43:5). “Today—as in every generation—it is stunning to watch the shift away from God as the all-satisfying gift of God’s love. It is…
Perhaps another way to clearly note the differences between the Reformation view and the Roman Catholic view of justification is to pay attention to Aristotelian categories of causation. The rediscovery of Aristotle was important to the development of the Western Christian tradition.[1] In terms of justification, Catholic theology differentiates between at least four causes of…
I sat down in the hallway, exhausted. I had finally put all four children down for a nap after a very difficult morning. One child was screaming and crying in protest, throwing things at me from his bed. I released a deep sigh, trying to shut out the screaming, and opened my Bible. I sat…
Recently, I was captivated with To the Golden Shore, a biography of Adoniram Judson, one of the first American missionaries. His story is rife with suffering and yet his life is still having an impact centuries later. Adoniram had already experienced the death of his first wife and three children by the time he penned…
I do not believe that the hardships we face in this world are random. Instead, I believe in (and assume in this post) a meticulously sovereign God. Everything in this universe falls under the guidance and control of divine providence. No roll of dice is outside of God’s design (Prov 16:33); no sparrow falls to…
“What a waste of talent.” I sank in my chair. I tried thinking of a compelling response as my professor continued to express his disappointment when he learned I would be going into the ministry rather than pursuing a career in social psychology. He could not fathom why I would ever waste my talent and…
Theology Along the Way 