A Very Nuanced Take on Everything
Whereas we denizens of late modernity are wandering in the fog of the simultaneous global renegotiation of all human custom, and consequently pining for…
Philosophenphilosophie und Schulphilosophie
In “The University Philosopher in Early Modern Germany,” Ian Hunter draws his readers’ attention to Paul Richard Blum’s useful distinction for analyzing the various…
One Month After the Roe Leak: Reflections on the Supreme Court’s Draft Opinion
With some distance from the initial SCOTUS leak, what are the most significant takeaways?
The Difference Theology Makes (for Philosophy)
With apologies for the, er, radio? silence here recently, I’m just popping back in for a quick quotation from Günter Frank on the relation…
Passion and Constraint in the Early Republic Religious Order
Nineteenth Century Protestant intellectuals embraced a positivistic vision of liberty in the Early Republic. Liberty in the era generally meant the freedom to pursue…
The Necessary Evil of Christian Books?
On the place of Christian books in the New Testament.
“You Shall Not Murder”: Johannes Brenz on the Killing of Children
Abortion–which is a euphemism for “killing one’s own offspring”–has been in the news again, and with it the usual moral confusions, including among Christians.…
Early Republic Evangelicals, Abortion, and the Culture Wars
In 1823, Hugh Lenox Hodge became a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. Hodge hailed from a well-known Philadelphia family. His father,…
T.S. Eliot, Radical Revivalist
Another, doubtless very different, Jonathan Edwards?
Gordon Contra McGrath on Zwingli
Was Zwingli really just a moralist zealot?
More Than Protestant, But Never Less Than Protestant: An Addendum to Timon Cline
Timon Cline has offered a very good piece at The American Reformer on the Protestant foundation of the states that formed the American Union…
“Unwound My Wounded Soul”: An Epigram on the Crucifixion
It’s Monday, and I have a new epigram to share. Last time, we had a version of Greek Anthology 1.53 on the Passover. This…
Be for the City: 19th Century Evangelicals and Progressive Urban Theonomy
Nineteenth Century Evangelical Protestant reformers foreshadowed their late Twentieth Century co-religionists by their heavy influence on social and moral reform particularly in northern cities.…
“As Light From Darkness Once Was Spoke”: A Resurrection Hymn
Tracing the resurrection through the Old Testament in song
“Have Mercy on Us, You Who Alone Have Mercy”
For Good Friday, I’d like to share with you a meditation from Johann Gerhard on Christ’s Passion and the use it can serve for…
“Christ Nullified the Paschal Lamb”: An Epigram on the Last Supper and the Lord’s Supper
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed…
Baudrillard on Icons
“One can see that the iconoclasts, whom one accuses of disdaining and negating images, were those who accorded them their true value, in contrast…
“The Cosmic Lord upon a Foal”: A Greek Epigram for Palm Sunday
This past Sunday was Palm Sunday. Don’t worry; there’s a poem for that. We once again return to Book 1 of The Greek Anthology.…
The Purity of the Church of England
In 1852 the bishop of Exeter charged his chancellor, E.C. Harington, with preaching on the foundations of the Church of England. Harington used the…
Woodrow Wilson, the Bible, and Liberalism in 2022
In his religious biography of Woodrow Wilson, Barry Hankins notes that Wilson’s father—prominent southern Presbyterian minister and professor Joseph Ruggles Wilson—stated after his son’s…
Why You Shouldn’t Start Worship With Repentance: A Response to Sam Bray
Does it make more sense to start with sin or with God?
“The Light That Gives Us Heaven”: A Greek Epigram on Paul
Here, have a new poem. (And the last one, if you like.) Today we have Greek Anthology 1.79, on the Apostle Paul. As usual,…
Reluctance to Speak
It has been a long time since I foisted upon my hapless readers my opinions, screeds, condescending remarks, &c. I have an excuse, but…
Family Worship and Christian Nationalism in the Early Republic
John Stark Ravenscroft served as bishop of North Carolina from 1823 to 1830. He hailed from an old Virginia family noted for their Tory…
One Age Surpasses All Others: Yours
Every age is a Christian age, and intellectuals must remember that.
“By God’s Gifts and the Widow’s Faith”: An Epigram on Elijah
Been a while; new poem today. In this post, I translate Greek Anthology 1.77, on 1 Kings 17, in which Elijah is fed by…
Calvin on the Church of England – Part 3
We could say that Calvin is Puritan in personal tastes and eventual goals but that he is Anglican in basic principles and ecclesiastical polity.
Leithart on empire and Russia/Ukraine
Segments of the Christian right have flirted with a sort of schadenfreude during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The West, they believe, is so…
Channelling Augustine on the Trinity for Teens
Teaching theological grammar and the Gospel to 14-18 year olds, with Augustine's help.
Liberalism contra Secularism and Theocracy: A Reply to Mark Tooley
I recently read with interest Mark Tooley’s piece “Democracy vs Theocracy.” Tooley argues that for some “magisterial Protestants” and Catholic integralists, modernity is corrupt…
“O Rachel, Why This Bitter Tear?”: Another Greek Epigram
Back with another new poem, this time Greek Anthology 1.43. The previous poem dealt with the magi coming from the East; this one is…
On Being a Christian in Late Modernity (Part 7: Conclusion)
25. On a superficial reading, the trends and quandaries I have highlighted thus far permit two basic reactions. Republicans versus democrats, right versus left,…
“No More Do Magi Bring Their Pagan Gifts”: Another Greek Epigram
Posting has been somewhat sporadic of late–for which, my apologies. But I have another Greek epigram for you, the forty-first from Book 1 of…
Episcopalian Debates on Calvinism and the Articles, ca 1801
In 1820 Dr. William White, Episcopal bishop of Pennsylvania, published Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The work…
So Natural is the Union of Religion with Justice: Blogging through Hooker’s Laws, Book V
So I know I’ve been absolutely terrible about contributing to this blog, but I am at last ready to start making up for lost…
Ash Wednesday in the Pre-Tractarian Church of England
In 1809, well before the Tractarian controversy began to rage in the Church of England, a Dr. Riddoch took it upon himself to explain…
Calvin on the Church of England – Part 2
This post is Part 2 of a three part series. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 3 here. Earlier, I introduced Calvin’s…
“One Song of Angels and of Men”: A Greek Epigram
This week we’re looking at another two-line epigram in elegiacs from Book 1 of the Greek Anthology. The titulus tells us it is about…
The Return of the King? A Canonical Reading of Psalm 137
A constructive, tentative suggestion for a troubling imprecatory psalm.
“A More Than Heaven”: Another Greek Christian Epigram
We’re back with another Christian epigram from Book 1 of the Greek Anthology. This poem (Greek Anthology 1.38), like last week’s, is on the…
