Author: Fred Sanders
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A Personal Relationship with Jesus (Theremin)
“Where in the Bible does it say we should have a personal relationship with Jesus?” This seems to be an increasingly common question. My knee-jerk reaction to the question used to be, “It’s presupposed everywhere in Scripture!” Meanwhile I would be thinking in the back of my mind, “Here is somebody who doesn’t have a…
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The Words of Jesus
Rudolf Ewald Stier wrote a unique commentary back in the nineteenth century. According to his biography, it began as an exposition of Jesus’ chief parables, but Stier found so much power in the parables that he decided to write a commentary on every word spoken by Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. The series,…
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Invoking God the Father
Father, who so loved the world that you gave your only Son; Father, whose love was made manifest in sending your Son into the world so we may live through him; Father, who predestined us in love to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ; Father, who loved us so much that we should be called,…
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The Best Book on the Doctrine of Scripture
The best book on the doctrine of Scripture has never been written, and is by J.I. Packer. Every time I teach on the doctrine of Scripture, I find myself reaching for a few J.I. Packer quotations that have coalesced in my memory to form a complete statement on bibliology. But when I reach for the…
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Gates of Adamant are Broken
An Easter poem by C. S. Lewis, only printed (so far as I know) in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950-1963 (HarperSan Francisco, 2007), p. 955. The poem is from a June 1958 letter to Francis Turner. It’s not the kind of thing that could stand on its…
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Protestants, not Protesters
Today (April 19) is the anniversary of the 1529 Protestation of Speyer, which is generally regarded as the first time that the word “Protestant” was used to refer to a religious position distinct from Roman Catholicism. A coalition of German princes and leaders refused to abide by the imperial ban on Luther’s teachings, and called…
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Algernon Crapsey’s Heresy Trial
Algernon Crapsey worshiped telegraph poles, but that’s both better and worse than it sounds. It was April 18 in the year 1906 that Reverend Algernon Sidney Crapsey (1847-1927) was put on trial by the Episcopal Church in the state of New York for teaching, preaching and writing contrary to the Christian faith. He was found…
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Deficit Spirituality
When I learned how to drive a car, my dad made sure to start me out on the most primitive contraption that was street legal. It had a manual transmission, of course, and manual everything else as well: door locks, windows, seat adjustments, and all. You dimmed the headlights by stomping a switch on the…
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Tenth Annual G. Campbell Morgan Theology Conference
Here is a chance to survey the entire scope of Christian doctrine: a brief enough summary to show the whole thing at a glance, but with enough detail to see the various parts and how they relate to each other. We’ve put the entire 2011 G. Campbell Morgan Theology Conference online at Biola’s YouTube channel.…
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Meet the Theologians: Basil the Great
This is a comic strip I did in 1998 introducing Basil of Caesarea, one of the Cappadocian Fathers.
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Pope Formosus, Dead and Sort of Buried
Pope Formosus (born around 816, died April 4, 896), only served for 5 years in the office of Pope, and they were troubled years. Formosus inherited an unstable political situation, and took the wrong side in the dispute between warring kings in a disintegrating Christendom. In 894, he asked King Arnulf of the Franks to…
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Elizabeth Johnson's Quest Controversy
Last week a controversial book of theology was condemned by well-established critics who cautioned the public that the book did not present Christian doctrine in an accurate, biblical, or traditional way. As news of the book’s official condemnation spread, book sales spiked. This has nothing to do with Rob Bell or Love Wins; that’s old…