The sixth, seventh, and eighth marks of a good preacher are, for Luther, that he should know when to stop, he should be certain and diligent in his subject, and he should put his life, limb, possessions and honour into it, There is a ninth mark, but we'll come to that in a moment. Of the three...

While there has been an understandable reaction in parts of the Reformed world against the kind of radical downgrading of ordained ministry which has come to mark much of the evangelical world, this has itself created problems. Perhaps most obvious is the priestly culture it can generate, where the...

There is an interesting video over at Biologos by Rev. Dr. Joel Hunter. It is a graciously worded and gentle piece but does leave some questions. The major burden seems to be that Reformed and Wesleyans need each other -- the former providing the intellectual and analytical rigour, the latter the...

One of the amazing things about modern American culture is surely the pathological fear of wasting time. It is especially evident in the attitude to children. Public school kids have their lives scheduled from morning till night; homeschool parents seem to regard any second of the day from the age...

Over the last decade, it has become something of a commonplace in Reformed evangelical circles to decry the level of polemic that has historically characterised the Reformed world. From John Frame's famous critique of Machen's warrior children to more recent comments by high-profile members of the...

The last two elements which go to make up a theologian are, for Luther, careful and constant reading, and a practical knowledge of the academic disciplines. This last can be dealt with quickly: essentially, Luther saw a good, rounded academic education as important for being a good pastor and...

The last two elements which go to make up a theologian are, for Luther, careful and constant reading, and a practical knowledge of the academic disciplines. This last can be dealt with quickly: essentially, Luther saw a good, rounded academic education as important for being a good pastor and...

The fourth element of the making of a true theologian for Luther is occasio . This is not the easiest word to translate in context but means something like `opportunity' or `opportune moment.' As such, it is not immediately obvious to a newcomer to Luther's theology what he means. Is it the...

OK, as we enter the fourth post in this series, I am conscious it might be starting to look a bit like one of those oh-so-godly-but-goodness-me-aren't-they-dull-as-ditchwater series one finds occasionally in reformed magazines, with titles such as `Reflections on the Life of That Eminent Servant of...

OK, as we enter the fourth post in this series, I am conscious it might be starting to look a bit like one of those oh-so-godly-but-goodness-me-aren't-they-dull-as-ditchwater series one finds occasionally in reformed magazines, with titles such as `Reflections on the Life of That Eminent Servant of...

The second mark of a true theologian for Luther is, to use his chosen Latin word, tentatio . We might translate this as `testing' or even `temptation,' but, within the context of Luther's thought, where, when he writes in German, he uses Anfechtungen , it means something more akin to `terrible...

The first thing that makes a theologian, according to Luther, is the grace of the Spirit. This is the foundation on which all else rests, as it is this which defines the theologian as a human being. I noted yesterday that, for Luther, theology is personal action, the response human beings to the...

I want to start a short series of posts today on Martin Luther's understanding of what makes a theologian. The sources for reflection are primarily two: a passage from his Table Talk (no. 3425; not as far as I know available in the standard English translations) and the preface to the first edition...

While the judicial overturning of the gay marriage ban in California was hardly unexpected, it has raised a number of points of interest for discussion. Perhaps the most significant comment I have heard over the last few days was on MSNBC's Morning Joe program where one of the pundits observed that...

Having just agreed to write a short introductory text on the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas for a Protestant audience, I have spent the last few days pulling various primary and secondary texts off my shelves to refresh my memory of the great man. I used to teach an Honours course on his life...

So Anne Rice has quit Christianity, or Roman Catholicism, or whatever . She did it via a Facebook posting, apparently, rather than a book, but it still surely merits the response Edward Said gave to The God That Failed -- no, not the Metallica song (if Said had an opinion on that, I am unaware of...

Seeing Derek's reference to Ned and Steve's new book, I was reminded of Ned's late father-in-law, Dick Symons, a truly charming and kind Christian man, a member of Emmanuel OPC in Wilmington, and one who went out of his way to offer words of encouragement to me and, I am sure, many others.. Then,...

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ted Haggard is back. As Tiger Woods needs to golf and Michael Vick needs to play football (or, from a British perspective `stand around posing in spandex tights, giving high fives and doing little else for three hours a week') so Ted Haggard needs to be leading...

On Saturday I happened to be in Pittsburgh, watching the TV in my hotel room. The newscast announced that the annual Furry Convention was taking place in town. For those who don't know what a `furry' is (and that was me until just over 48 hours ago), a furry is someone who likes to dress up as an...

....when politicians are behaving with the same honour and integrity as we have come to expect from certain church leaders. Not using `theological leverage' or being `relationally mobile' with their best friend's wife; merely `misspeaking' apparently. See here .

The General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland today voted to call Professor John L. Mackay as the new Principal of Free Church College, to succeed Donald Macleod. Ref21 sends its congratulations to Prof. Mackay and its best wishes to him in his new position, with the warning that academic...

The news yesterday, when not preoccupied with the Icelandic volcano, was buzzing with reports that an Apple employee had left his new iPhone (as yet unreleased to the public) in a bar where its significance had not been missed. Was this a disastrous error by a (presumably soon-to-be-ex) employee?...

British writer Dominic Lawson has an interesting article comparing the situation of the Pope with that of Roman Polanski here . What he observes fits nicely with the thesis that the postmodern world is one of aesthetics (forget the `linguistic turn' sideshow), and that organised religion is...

I had the pleasure and privilege on Saturday of attending a shepherding seminar conducted by my colleague, Tim Witmer, for the session of my local church. The material (found in his recent book) was outstanding, and the Q and As excellent: six church officers quizzing a seventh about the...