To Robert Gordon of Knockbrex - Seeing Christ more clearly through tribulation’s lens
My Very Worthy and Dear Friend,
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Though all Galloway should have forgotten me, I would have expected a letter from you ere now; but I will not expound it to be forgetfulness of me.
Now, my dear brother, [...]
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Posted in Ecclesiology, Lex Orandi Lex Credendi, Pilgrim Praxis, Providence, Sacra Scriptura, Samuel Rutherford, Sola Fide, tagged Christianity, religion, suffering on June 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »
To Mr. Robert Blair - The Other Half of Our Ministry
Reverend and Dearly Beloved Brother,
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, be unto you.
It is no great wonder, my dear brother, that ye be in heaviness for a season, and that God’s will (in crossing your design and [...]
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Posted in Epistemology, Mortification of Sin, Pilgrim Praxis, Samuel Rutherford, Sola Fide, tagged Christianity, knowledge, Reformed, religion, suffering on June 12, 2008 | No Comments »
To Lady Boyd - Knowing One’s Self in Suffering
Madam,
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you.
The Lord has brought me to Aberdeen, where I see God in few. This town has been advised upon of purpose for me; it consisteth either of Papists, or men of Gallio’s naughty faith. It is counted wisdom, in the most, [...]
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Posted in A Common Word, Antithesis, Apologetics, Christology, Cornelius Van Til, Cross and Crescent, Doctrine of God, Epistemology, Ethics, Ex Pacto, Geerhardus Vos, Herman Bavinck, John Calvin, John Frame, Love, Metaethics, Miroslav Volf, Pilgrim Praxis, Research Papers, Richard Gaffin, Synthesis, Systematic Theology, tagged Christianity, Reformed, religion, covenant, Islam, trinity on June 9, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Abstract
My papers evaluate Dr. Miroslav Volf’s publications and lectures related to A Common Word. In the epistemology paper I examine Volf’s arguments for a shared monotheism between Christianity and Islam, asking, “By what norm can one determine whether Muslims believe in the same monotheistic God as Christians?” In the ethics paper I explore Volf’s love [...]
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Posted in Book Reviews, Doctrine of God, Ethics, Historical Theology, Pilgrim Praxis, Prolegomena, Research Papers, Semper Reformanda, Systematic Theology, tagged aesthetics, Christianity, Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, religion on June 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Summary
Through colorful biographical sketches of six “fools” from Christianity’s history, Pelikan presents a poignant exhortation: unless one’s head, hands, and heart being “foolishly” committed to Jesus Christ at every point, then one’s pursuit of dogmatics, ethics, and aesthetics become idolatrous journeys into insanity.
Review/Reflection
My response to Pelikan’s book is part review and part autobiographical reflection:
On Mastering [...]
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Saudi Arabia’s former Minister of Information, Muhammad Abduh Al-Yamani, gives his perspective on 9/11 (it has been unfairly pinned on “Islam”) and Christianity (its scriptures are corrupt, and Islam calls Christians back to true monotheism).
On Al-Yamani’s former argument, American Christians may need to at least be willing to listen patiently. With his latter arguments Al-Yamani [...]
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To Lady Kenmure - Ill Scholars in Christ’s School
Madam,
Grace, mercy and peace be to you. I received your Ladyship’s letter. It refreshed me in my heaviness. The blessing and prayer of a prisoner of Christ come upon you.
Nothing grieveth me but that I eat my feasts my lone, and that I cannot edify His saints. [...]
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Posted in Pilgrim Praxis, Preaching, Samuel Rutherford, Sola Fide, tagged Christian life, Christianity, Cross, Reformed, religion, suffering on May 1, 2008 | No Comments »
To Lady Kenmure - While Exiled at Aberdeen
My Very Honorable and Dear Lady,
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
I cannot forget your Ladyship, and that sweet child. I desire to hear what the Lord is doing to you and him. To write to me were charity. I cannot but write to my friends, that Christ [...]
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In this fifth and final post on a Christian response to Geert Wilder’s Fitna film (see parts 1, 2, 3, and 4), I argue that the most basic starting point in our response is to ask ourselves the underlying theological question: Do I treat Muslims like images of God?
Cutting Through the Political Noise
Due to the [...]
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As the world is busy inquiring about violence surrounding Islam’s Crescent, James Carroll turns attention to the dark side of the Roman Catholic Cross. The movie is based on Carroll’s controversial book, Constantine’s Sword, which accuses the Roman Church of propagating antisemitism. Is Carroll’s movie, then, a “Catholic Fitna“?
Carroll’s Summary of the Film
Constantine’s Sword is [...]
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