Featured Essay / Culture
A friend and I had a conversation about a situation of systemic and personal abuse she was suffering, which turned into correspondence between us. With permission, I have polished up my exchange with Lori (a pseudonym), as a reflection on what it means for a victim to properly love a…
Essay / Culture
Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) has been gone for a quarter of a century now, and responsible evaluation of his impact on Christian culture is just getting underway. Two major biographies have been published recently: Barry Hankins’ Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America (Eerdmans, 2009)
Essay / On This Day
On January 29, 1336, Pope Benedict XII issued a letter which made official pronouncements on a controversy that had been raging for several decades. The letter was Benedictus Deus, and it sorted out the following problem: When people die, their souls leave their bodies. That’s
Essay / On This Day
R.A. Torrey was a big deal about 100 years ago, and he still is. Though he was already world-famous when he came to us, he was the first academic dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and once wrote that he had given this
Essay / On This Day
“Da quod iubes, et iube quod vis!” prayed Augustine: “Give what you command, and command what you will!” This line from Book 10 of Augustine’s Confessions is a perfect crystallization of Augustine’s recognition that he was desperately in need of God’s grace: “My whole hope
Essay / On This Day
Though the council of Trent was an event that sprawled over 18 years with long gaps between sessions (1545-1563), its canons and decrees were made official when the Pope received and ratified them by issuing a bull entitled Benedictus Deus on this date, January 26,
Essay / On This Day
Gregory of Nazianzus is among the most important and influential of the church fathers, as can be seen from the rank he occupies in no less than three traditional honorific triads. The first triad with which Gregory is associated is the Cappadocian Fathers: Basil the
Essay / Literature
Today in 1572, John Donne was born. Donne was equally powerful as a poet and as a preacher, because in both roles he exercised an apparently absolute mastery over the English language. In his 1999 book The Theology of John Donne, Jeffrey Johnson argues that
Essay / Misc.
Abraham Ibn Ezra was a medieval Jewish commentator on the Old Testament. His commentaries are a bizarre combination of unconstrained creativity and extreme jot-and-tittle conservatism. He also wrote poetry and is highly regarded as a philosopher. His way of talking about any subject is often
Essay / On This Day
Carl F. H. Henry was born on January 22, 1913. He has only been dead for a few years now (since late 2003), and it’s still a little hard to believe he’s gone. Henry stamped his identity onto some of the central institutions of the
Essay / On This Day
On January 21, 1549, the House of Commons agreed with the previous decision of the House of Lords in passing an act that declared the brand new Book of Common Prayer to be the only legal form for worship in England. This was the first
Essay / On This Day
Susanna Wesley (1669-1742) would not be famous if she weren’t the mother of John and Charles. But since two of her boys grew up and shook the world, Susanna has come to our attention, and it’s a good thing. She was a remarkable 18th century
Essay / On This Day
The first edition of the Heidelberg Catechism was published on January 19, 1563. If you know this little book well, then this reminder is enough to make you call to mind some of the best passages. If you know it less well, let this reminder