In the third book of his Institutes, John Calvin argues that the church’s worship should begin with a corporate prayer of confession:
“Besides the fact that ordinary confession has been commended by the Lord’s mouth, no one of sound mind, who weighs its usefulness, can dare disapprove it….
Theology
Debating the Simple God
In the last few years, few issues have been more controversial among Reformed evangelicals than the debate over the eternal subordination of the Son to the Father. To the extent that God’s intra-triune life has been thought to be the foundation and model of inter-human relationships, many have perceived their various social programs (particularly in relation to the sexes) to be at stake, at times driving the debate’s resolution in a particular direction. One meta-issue continually at the forefront in the debate over eternal subordination concerns the traditional doctrine of God’s simplicity.
Why Protestant Christianity Needs a Theology of Natural Law
Natural law is an idea of perennial importance and controversy in the Western world, and now in other places too. This idea didn’t die in twentieth-century Protestant thought, but it fell on hard times. During the opening decades of the twenty-first century, interest in natural law has suddenly sprung to life again in many Protestant circles. This is an encouraging development—from historical, philosophical, and theological perspective. But it remains controversial.
Decades II.7: Of the Magistrate
The whole office of a magistrate seemeth to consist in these three points: to order, to judge, and to punish, of every one whereof I mean to speak severally in order as they lie. The ordinance of the magistrate is a decree made by him for maintaining of religion, honesty, justice, and public peace: and it consisteth on two points: in ordering rightly matters of religion, and making good laws for the preservation of honesty, justice, and common peace.
Postmodernity and the Structures of Creaturely Life: A Hermeneutical Proposal
When we conceive of finitude, we are often tempted to define this perplexing concept in opposition to infinity. Of course, because infinity is equally if not more perplexing, we find ourselves right back where we started.
Reason Diabolical, Reason Divine: Melanchthon on Philosophy, Humanism and Scripture
This article appeared in Volume II, Issue 4 of Ad Fontes. Introduction I begin with a quotation. I have used it in print before, but it provides such a high value of entertainment that I cannot forego reusing it here. The quotation is from a 19th c. American...
The Gospel Embodied: Luther’s Theology of the Lord’s Supper
Martin Luther sought above all to understand God’s self-revelation in the gospel, and how men and women are to grasp this revelation. In the gospel Luther discovered a God who comes to us. God condescends to us to meet us in our need as Savior and gives himself for...
The Gospel Expressed: Luther’s Teaching on Alien Righteousness as Divine Gift
When exactly the levee is going to break is not easy to know, but when it does we all know. October 31, 1517 is the day the levee broke in the church of the West. It is not likely that Luther was aware he was laying his ax to the root. But that is what he was in fact...
Jesus and Pacifism: A Correspondence (Pt. III)
Part 3 of a 3 part correspondence on Jesus and pacifism from 2017.
Jesus and Pacifism: A Correspondence (Pt. II)
Part 2 of a 3 part correspondence on Jesus and pacifism from 2017.