Remembering Thomas Oden

by Joel Elowsky

Tom saw as his primary task the discernment of how the Holy Spirit was leading the church and how, in his role as a pastor and academic, he might fit into the Spirit’s leading. Continue Reading »

13 Dec 2016

The Word and the Rule of Faith

by Peter J. Leithart

Evangelicalism is awash in the 3Rs: retrieval, renewal, and ressourcement. As Michael Allen and Scott Swain explain in Reformed Catholicity, recently published by Baker Academic press, various movements have emerged sharing the conviction that “the path to theological renewal lies in retrieving resources from the Christian tradition.” In their view, these efforts have been haphazard, and their book sketches a “programmatic assessment of what it means to retrieve the catholic tradition . . . on the basis of Protestant theological and ecclesiological principles.” Continue Reading »

30 Jan 2015

St. Augustine and the Beauty of the Old Testament

by James Grant

A few years ago Pope Benedict XVI gave a series of lectures on the early church fathers, and they have been collected into a book: Church Fathers: From Clement of Rome to Augustine. In one of the lectures on St. Augustine, the Pope mentioned something significant about Ambrose’s . . . . Continue Reading »

24 Jan 2012

The Ann Rice Meme

by Mark Olson

Ann had an interesting meme post which I noticed today, the “Ann Rice” meme. This meme asks us to: Name 3 things that really annoy you about church in general. Name 3 reasons why you stay.So, without further ado: here’s my list.Annoyances When Christians make references to . . . . Continue Reading »

9 Aug 2010

Ms Rice and Our Divided Church

by Mark Olson

Some ink (some virtual) has been spilled on novelist Ms Rice announcing that she has “left the Church” but not left Christ. Recently I have been reading and studying the five theological orations by St. Gregory the Theologian (also known as St. Gregory of Nazianzus where he was Bishop . . . . Continue Reading »

3 Aug 2010

Did the Church Fathers Know the Gospel?

by Christopher Benson

Justin Taylor, our fellow blogger at Evangel, has already posted a blog that brought attention to J. Ligon Duncan’s address at Together for the Gospel 2010 conference, “Did the Church Fathers Know the Gospel?” At the risk of redundancy, I am compelled to bring further attention to . . . . Continue Reading »

11 Jun 2010

Noetic Noah and the Fluffy Hermeneutic

by Mark Olson

This started as a reply about hermeneutic in the context of the flood on my personal blog. Do we take the flood literally or not. My interlocutor was exasperated exclaiming that to not take the text literally implies words have no meaning. This is exactly backwords. Here is my response to him.Yes, . . . . Continue Reading »

6 Apr 2010

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

by Paul T. McCain

As an Irishman, on my father’s side, I’m very pleased to celebrate Saint Patrick’s day as the day to honor the one who was instrumental in bringing the Gospel to my ancestoral people and home. Here from “Crosstalk.com” is the real story of Saint Patrick:If you ask people who Saint Patrick . . . . Continue Reading »

17 Mar 2010

What Shall I Read?

by Mark Olson

I have a very weird Lenten practice which I’ve attempted to hold to over the last few years. I’m a reader. I’ve always read books. It is the thing I am most likely to do given more than a few minutes free time. Somehow a few years back at the start of Lent, a rhyme that brides use . . . . Continue Reading »

2 Mar 2010

Christ, the Way and the Haven

by Paul T. McCain

Christ Himself is both the Way by which you go, and the Haven toward which you make your way. — St. Augustine, Homily . . . . Continue Reading »

26 Feb 2010