En este a帽o se celebra alrededor del mundo los 500 a帽os del inicio de lo que se conoce como La Reforma protestante. El 31 de octubre de 1517 el monje agustino Mart铆n Lutero clav贸 en la puerta de la Iglesia del Castillo en Wittenberg en Alemania 95 tesis en las que criticaba abiertamente las ventas de indulgencias de la iglesia cat贸lica romana. Lutero escogi贸 ese d铆a deliberadamente ya que era la v铆spera del D铆a de Todos los Santos y tanto la facultad de la universidad como muchos fieles asist铆an a la iglesia. Lutero inicialmente no ten铆a la intenci贸n de romper con la iglesia romana sino enfatizar la supremac铆a del evangelio de Cristo basada en su simplicidad y a la vez en su gran profundidad ...
For many years I have been curious about a Roman governor known to us from history as Pliny the Younger. My interest initially arose because I resided for four years in one of the principal cities he governed鈥攏ot to mention that one of my four daughters was born in that city. Moreover, since I have expended significant effort studying the writings of the earliest Christian authors after the period of the apostles (those authors known as the 鈥淎postolic Fathers鈥), I continue to be intensely interested in learning anything I possibly can about the lives of Christians who lived during the first half of the second century ...
I just finished reading Owen Strachan book, Awakening the Evangelical Mind: An Intellectual History of the Neo-Evangelical Movement. He has some good words for how to keep evangelical universities, well 鈥 evangelical. These three paragraphs are worth the three minutes it will take you to read them ...
Kenneth Berding (Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology) recently wrote and published The Apostolic Fathers: A Narrative Introduction. We wanted to learn more about this book, so we had Ken respond to some questions ...
In my previous post, I introduced my book on warfare in the ancient Near East and the Old Testament. Before we look at more serious topics, we will begin our survey of the book by looking at a very practical matter: going to the bathroom in battle. Unfortunately, the ancient kings did not often refer to the topic in their martial accounts. However, a few details have come down to us!
Darian Locket (Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Talbot School of Theology) recently wrote and published Letters from the Pillar Apostles: The Formation of the Catholic Epistles as a Canonical Collection. We wanted to learn more about this book, so we had Darian respond to some questions ...
I have just finished reading through (most of) the new 1,200+ page book, The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures, edited by D.A. Carson. This book is a splendid example of deep thinking about important subjects presented in a format readable not just for advanced students and scholars, but also for other deep-thinking Christians. I am not saying that the topics are simple. Quite to the contrary, this book tackles some of the most difficult questions surrounding the authority of Scripture. The doctrine of inerrancy in particular is underscored throughout the book ...
Dr. Craig, Your ministry has radically changed my life. As a direct result of your arguments and debates, I went from a nihilist to a staunch Christian. However, I have encountered a problem with the ontological argument. Is there a contradiction between perfect justice and perfect mercy in a maximally great being? The way I have seen this objection posed is that the Christian God is just and merciful. Mercy is defined as the suspension of justice. Thus there is a contradiction. I have also seen the argument being put as perfect justice is giving everyone what they're due, and perfect mercy is giving some people less than what they're due. Is this objection as crushing as its proponents make it out to be? ...
Christian anthropologies have been of vital importance throughout the history of the church because at each point in history there are cultural assumptions and philosophical perspectives about the nature of humanity that call the gospel into question, that question God Lordship, humanity servanthood, and their genuine fellowship in Jesus Christ. To maintain a biblical understanding of salvation, Christians have needed to emphasize humanity existence as embodied and as spiritual, as moved by intellect and by desire, as motivated by the will and as motivated by habitual acts that shape the will. These realities of human existence have been uncovered as theologians have thought through the logic of the gospel and its proclamation in their context ...
You know that part of your Bible where the gold leaf on the pages still looks pretty fresh? Some of the pages might still even be stuck together. Or, more au courant, the portion you rarely scroll to on your phone or iPad 鈥 That right, for most of us it that part of the Bible starting right after Psalms and going all the way to Matthew. A lot of prophets big and little, and a good bit of Israel Wisdom tradition鈥攂ut it just doesn鈥檛 get a lot of air-time in most evangelical churches or personal Bible-reading. Now, I鈥檓 the first to admit that last claim stems from my own highly subjective internal polling data, and I鈥檓 glad to be proven wrong; but I don鈥檛 think I am, because I know a good bit of it true in my own life ...
On April 25, 1967, the church lost a great Christian philosopher and apologist named Edward John Carnell. He was almost 48 years old. Today marks the 48th anniversary of his death. He was a graduate of Wheaton College and of Westminster Theological Seminary. He later earned doctoral degrees in theology and philosophy, at Harvard Divinity School and Boston University, respectively ...
Arnold Lunn was born to a Methodist minister, but he was himself agnostic and a critic of Christianity鈥攗ntil he was 45 years old, when he converted to the faith. Lunn died on June 2, 1974. Lunn was a professional skier and full-time enthusiast. He founded the Alpine Ski Club and the Kandahar Ski Club. He brought slalom skiing to the racing world, and he the namesake for a double black diamond ski trail at Taos Ski Valley. Lunn credited his agnosticism to the wholly unconvincing cause of Anglicanism. He looked in vain for persuasive arguments for the existence of God and the truth of Christianity. Later he would say that 鈥渁n odd hour or two at the end of a boy school life might not be unprofitably spend in armouring him against the half-baked dupes of ill informed secularists鈥 (The Third Day, xvii). He wrote in criticism of the faith and debated Christianity prominent defenders ...
Born in 1861, W. H. Griffith Thomas died on June 2, 1924. His greatest and most sophisticated work is his book The Principles of Theology, a commentary on the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church. But one short and reader-friendly book that should interest students of Christian apologetics is How We Got Our Bible ...
S酶ren Kierkegaard was born May 5, 1813, in Copenhagen, Denmark. He been called a Christian existentialist, a fideist, a satirist, and 鈥渢he melancholy Dane.鈥 He was concerned about the disconnect between Christian profession and the lived reality of true Christianity. He called his contemporaries to a deeper personal encounter with God. And he wrote with penetrating insight about the failure of the purely aesthetic life鈥攚hat we today might call secularism鈥攚hich seeks pleasure without discerning its natural and ultimate end, namely, despair. Kierkegaard contribution is considerable, even for the evidentialist. In fact, his sermonic style may be of value to the apologist who insists on the value of evidence. E. J. Carnell, mid-twentieth century, did the most to bring Kierkegaard insight into an overall 鈥渃ombinationalist鈥 approach to apologetics. Carnell wrote: 鈥淭here can be no question that S酶ren Kierkegaard gave a profoundly convincing defense of the third locus of truth.
... Because of the importance of Christian fellowship, it is important to distinguish biblical guidelines to guide and govern our interactions with other professing believers. This is especially true in a world such as ours, where there exists tremendous diversity in the beliefs and behaviors among those who call themselves Christians ...
The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the California Science Center offers a historic opportunity to see artifacts and manuscripts from what is arguably the most significant archaeological discovery of the twentieth century. The Dead Sea Scrolls are precious to Jews and Christians of all backgrounds because of what they contribute to our understanding of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, the beliefs and practices of ancient Judaism and the cultural background of the New Testament.
Justin Martyr (ca. 100-165 AD) is considered by many to be the first great apologist of the Christian church. The apostle Paul is surely a better candidate for that distinction. But Paul was an inspired author of Scripture. This is not true of any of the other great Christian apologists. And Justin apparently was the first of these. Certainly, he is the first whose writings have survived and are available in English translation ...
鈥淧aul fourth missionary journey? I thought he went on three missionary journeys!鈥 Yes, according to Acts, Paul embarked on three missionary journeys. Then he was imprisoned in Palestine for a couple years, transported under guard via ship to Rome (a journey that included a shipwreck on Malta), and spent a couple more years under house arrest in Rome. End of story? No. That is where the book of Acts ends, but it is not the end of the story. There are enough biblical and historical hints floating around to allow us to reconstruct some of what happened next. As a result of such a reconstruction, perhaps we ought to start talking about Paul fourth missionary journey ...
Dear Dr. Craig, On Jan 5th I made a statement that I was not going to allow doubt in regards to Jesus into my life, Jesus appears to be the best choice and that what I鈥檓 going with and I鈥檒l reevaluate at the end of the year. Well, a few days after I made this statement some books by Rabbi Tovia Singer (Let's Get Biblical) that I ordered earlier arrived and I couldn鈥檛 help myself to start reading them. I hate that I鈥檓 so inconsistent, but I will not apologize for yearning for truth ...
When I offered a new seminar course on Ecclesiology last semester, one of the books we discussed is Gregg R. Allison Sojourners and Strangers: the Doctrine of the Church (Crossway, 2012). This is the latest volume in the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series edited by John Feinberg. The book has several features to commend it for evangelical readers interested in ecclesiology. One characteristic throughout the book is the clear and well-organized writing style that is a model for students to see how ideas are presented, supported with evidence, and critiqued or nuanced. It is difficult to misunderstand Allison meaning and how all of his claims fit together.
The short answer, I believe, is that there is nothing wrong with offering a prayer to the Holy Spirit since God the Spirit is, of course, fully God, just as is God the Father and God the Son. However, most prayers in the New Testament and in the church of the second and third centuries were to God the Father, with a few exceptions.
In this series of posts, we attempt to offer a rich and appreciative reading of James chapter 1 and 2 with an eye to James鈥 theology of human redemption鈥攁 Jacobian soteriology. In the previous post, we considered James 1:18 and 21 and concluded that this 鈥渨ord of truth鈥 and 鈥渋mplanted word鈥 thus is a new character, a new heart disposition created in us. It must be received (1:21) and, as the 鈥渓aw of freedom鈥 it must be obeyed (1:22-25). Mercy must, it appears, be enacted in order to be efficacious. And thus the answer to the third question regarding this proverbial statement appears to be 鈥測es,鈥 mercy is a 鈥渨ork鈥 required for salvation. But that is a misleading way to understand James. It is better perhaps to call the mercy that triumphs an appropriation of the divine concern (2:5, 8), proof of the reality of the 鈥渂irth鈥 (1:18) and the 鈥渋mplanted word鈥 (1:21), and an accurate understanding of 鈥渇aith鈥 (2:14). This question of what constitutes 鈥済ood works鈥 will be explored now in this final post.
In this series of posts, we attempt to offer a rich and appreciative reading of James chapter 1 and 2 with an eye to James鈥 theology of human redemption鈥攁 Jacobian soteriology. In the previous post, we considered the function of the 鈥渨ord鈥 and the 鈥渓aw鈥 as God gracious gifts for salvation. Here we specifically looked at James 1:18 and 21 and concluded that this 鈥渨ord of truth鈥 and 鈥渋mplanted word鈥 thus is a new character, a new heart disposition created in us. It must be received (1:21) and, as the 鈥渓aw of freedom鈥 it must be obeyed (1:22-25). Thus, the 鈥渨ord/law鈥 in James is God instrument for salvation鈥攊t is both gift and responsibility. In this second post we will focus on James 2:12-13 where 鈥渕ercy鈥 triumphs over judgment.
Biola University