Banner of Truth has launched a new series of video shorts by their authors. You can see the first, featuring Westminster alumnus and PCA pastor, Paul Wolfe, here . It is brief but contains a remarkable amount of wise thinking about the importance and impact of the preached word. Paul is also a...

Some readers may remember an apparently empty link I posted a few months back on another good reason not to be a baptist. Having been reprimanded at that time by the powers-that-be for having been too quick off the mark (thus the empty post), I can now link to exactly what it is that helps to...

The latest Mortification of Spin ( Trivial Fascinations ) is up. To quote a Mrs T from Pennsylvania who listened to a preview 'This one hits a new low even for you two.' The legendary Steve Nichols is the guest and topics covered include: the possibility of being deported as a permanent US resident...

I noted in a post last week that modern campus feminists and the lobby groups of the the politics of sexual identity should, if consistent, be on a collision course. Well, an article in the British press indicates that it happened this week when death threats and a campaign of hatemail forced a...

In his poem Marmion , Sir Walter Scott famously commented on lying as follows: 'Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.' It seems that this line was never more apposite than when it comes to the plastic politics of contemporary sexual identity. I noted last week that an...

A couple of items. The Banner of Truth have just launched their new website . The US conference is also advertised . Actually involves a number of ministers you may never have heard of who minister in churches where they actually know the names of most, if not all, of the people in their...

It has been an excellent summer for books on the history of the Reformed and Presbyterian faith. John Halsey Wood and James Bratt have both offered fine treatments of Kuyper; D.G. Hart produced his long-awaited history of Calvinism; and now Bradley Longfield's Presbyterians and American Culture (...

In the late 90s, I served as an elder on session at Bon Accord Free Church of Scotland in Aberdeen, where Iver Martin was minister and the legendary Dr. Ian MacDonald served as session clerk. My sons were very young then and avid readers of the Free Church's children's magazine, The Instructor ...

I am grateful to the reader who drew my attention to the story over at Juicy Ecumenism concerning the presumably liberal vicar who yet found himself a poster boy for political incorrectness by asking two lesbians who the biological mother of a child he was asked to baptise actually was. The story...

The latest Mortification of Spin is up, a discussion of the importance of liturgy. Includes the popular quiz, "Guess which church Todd is pastoring this week". We will be broadcasting weekly from now on, with every other week being a shorter podcast, Mortification of Spin: Bully Pulpit . Same...

I am grateful to D. G. Hart for providing a concise and precise response to Bill Evans regarding the history of Westminster Theological Seminary and the issue of cultural transformation. I would only add that, if one wants to play the somewhat self-defeating hermeneutic of suspicion game and...

Two former students of mine, Steve Casselli and Dustyn Eudaly, have this week led their kirk session in a controversial but necessary stand relative to the use of their church building by the Boy Scouts of America. They will no doubt be lamented as bigots; for me, the truly lamentable aspects of...

With all of the terrible news coming from the Middle East, it is important to remember to pray for brothers and sisters caught in the crossfire. Mike Milton has posted a prayer to help focus intercession on his blog .

Even by our exacting standards, it has been a vintage few weeks for complaints about ref21 and I have found myself to be named Public Enemy No. 1 by numerous groups, from transformationalists (who think my theology wrong because it is not the same as that of Tim Keller) to American Vision (who...

I have just received word that John Fesko's magisterial exposition of the doctrine of baptism has been reprinted by Reformation Heritage Books. You can find the details here . My long-suffering session clerk has this to say about it: "This book represents a substantial accomplishment, one that...

Ron Belgau has a very thoughtful post in response to an article over at the Gospel Coalition which argues for the importance of the 'gag reflex' when it comes to debates about sexuality. Belgau's point is sound: taste is no safe basis for arguing for truth. The normalisation of homosexuality is sad...

As the news breaks that Bradley Manning has decided that he is really a woman, a couple of questions come immediately to my mind. They may appear facetious but they are deadly serious. If I decide I am a woman but remain married to my wife, does that make me a lesbian? And if you answer 'no' to the...

One of the greatest delights I have received in recent years was an invitation to contribute to Geoff Thomas's Festschrift. Geoff has variously referred to me over the years as 'a complete idiot,' 'that utter disaster' and 'a typically arrogant Englishman.' Coming from Geoff, such brickbats are...

The latest Mortification of Spin is up. It is an interview we did a while back with Aimee Byrd about her new book . One listener recently told us that we are 'one of the last outposts against the political correctness and bland conformity being spread abroad in the conservative evangelical world.'...

The responses to my post on transformation have been fast and on occasion furious. There is not time to deal with each and every one, so I respond in the form of a clarification and then a quasi-challenge. First, a clarification: I have no problem with the term 'worldview'. I do have a problem with...

A friend sent me this link to an article on a 'polyamorous' relationship between four people. It raises a host of interesting question. First is the obvious one: how far has society moved that this sort of relationship can be presented in the mainstream media as perhaps a little odd and risque but...

This week sees the publication of Aimee Byrd's long awaited tome, The Housewife Theologian which comes with stellar commendations from sound ladies such as Susan Hunt and Gloria Furman. Todd and I interview Aimee about her book on the Mortification of Spin this Wednesday. We are also delighted to...

While my online reading is generally confined to British newspapers, a friend brought to my attention this morning that Tim Challies had kindly linked to my post on transformationalism from earlier this week. Said friend was disturbed not by the link but one of the thread comments which recounted a...

Michael Milton has posted a prayer for Christians in Egypt. Given the upsurge in violence against believers there in recent days, it is important to remember our brothers and sisters who face imminent danger.