In a couple of weeks, I am taking off to Serbia in order to teach a course on church history. The opportunity to engage with students around the world, particularly as we talk about our common “family” history, is tremendously exciting. The first lecture is aimed at introducing students to the study of church history.…
This weekend marked the end of the season for my beloved Kentucky Wildcats. I love watching UK basketball and it was sad to see them lose to the Auburn Tigers. The loss, however, was much easier to take when I heard Duke also lost. A bit of balance was restored to the universe. When I…
Here are a few articles we believe are worth a look. Dr. Adam Greenway is the new president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Importantly, Greenway will take Dr. Randy Stinson from Southern Seminary with him. Stinson will serve as the new provost of SWBTS. Finally, included in the team (though a bit unknown) is Colby…
What’s in a name? Sometimes a lot. People name their kids after a family member, a biblical character, or a favorite theologian. We give names to our sports teams and nicknames to our friends. Names carry weight because they often convey important information or make significant connections. Yet names are sometimes superficial and carry…
By all accounts, John Calvin, the great Genevan reformer and systematician of the Reformation age, was an educated man. His early educational endeavors help set a trajectory toward a rigorous pattern of intellectual engagement that will mark his ministry. If pastors would cultivate a robust life of the mind (and they should), then paying attention…
John Calvin is a heavyweight in the history of Christian thought. When thinking about any particular point of theology, theologians of all stripes are wise to wrestle with his ideas. Love him or hate him, his influence is unquestionably felt across the world. Karl Barth, an intellectual giant in his own right, says, Calvin is…
In 1557 John Calvin wrote his preface to the commentary he had produced on the Psalms. In the preface, Calvin gives an important perspective on this particular OT book. I offer it here for your reading pleasure. I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, An Anatomy of the Soul; for…
Did you know Thomas Jefferson, one of America’s founding fathers, was a deist? One of the things he believed as a deist is that Jesus was not God. Furthermore, Jefferson did not believe Jesus rose from the grave. Rejecting anything he deemed irrational, Jefferson heavily edited the Bible and produced his own version. His version…
Here are a few things we believe are worth a look. I’m a baptist who lives in land full of Lutherans. Therefore I decided it was worthwhile to read the Augsburg Confession, the Lutheran statement of faith submitted to Charles V in 1530. It’s a worshipful document, even when you don’t agree with every word.…
Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2013. 568 pages. $29.95 Biographical Sketch of the Author Writing a biography of a monumental figure such as Augustine is no small task. Augustine stands atop the mountain of…
