The One Book: The Pilgrim’s Progress
I was once asked what I considered the best theology text. I took a breath and as I did the person reiterated, “The best.” Their emphasis on the definite article reminded me that they wanted one and only one. It…
Tag History
Katherine Parr and Her Role in the English Reformation
Katherine Parr and Her Role in the English Reformation Katherine Parr (1512-1548) is often remembered as the last of Henry VIII’s wives. But she was much more than that. She was an important writer and a major player in the English…
The One Book: Spurgeon V. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching
I always feel a bit uncomfortable when I see someone asking a Christian author to sign a book; there’s something about it that just seems so antithetical to who we are as Christians. It’s not a sin, just one…
Johannes Bogerman and His Powdering Speech
Johannes Bogerman and His Powdering Speech “Dimittimini exiteI” (“You are dismissed, get out!”) With these imperious words, Johannes Bogerman (1576-1637), president of the Synod of Dordt, expressed what many of the delegates were had been painfully thinking. The Remonstrants…
The One Book: Revival and Revivalism by Iain H. Murray
The Elizabethan polymath, Francis Bacon, counseled, “Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.” Undoubtedly sound advice. But of the more than 300,000 books published annually in US, how is one…
Agnes Beaumont and Her Fateful Ride
Agnes Beaumont and Her Fateful Ride Agnes Beaumont was gloating on her way to church. She had managed to find a ride against all odds, and what ride! She was sitting right behind John Bunyan, pastor of the church…
Charlotte of Bourbon – from Runaway Nun to Self-Sacrificing Wife
Charlotte of Bourbon – from Runaway Nun to Self-Sacrificing Wife For twelve long years, Charlotte tried to assert her legal rights to leave Notre-Dame de Jouarre, the abbey which she had been forced to join. Finally, in February 1572,…
The greatness of the weight of Sin
In our last three articles that dealt with the sin-related petitions in the Lord’s Prayer we noted in passing how striking it is that such a large proportion of this prayer is focused on our fallenness and failure. This surely…
Kata Bethlen – A Faith Preserved
Kata Bethlen – A Faith Preserved Kata Bethlen (1700-1752) started her autobiography with her most painful memory: her forced marriage, at age 17, to her Roman Catholic half-brother. Her family – one of the wealthiest and most influential…
Alcuin of York – More Than a Scholar
Alcuin of York – More Than a Scholar In 781, a Saxon monk named Alcuin had an encounter that changed his life and became the catalyst of the dynamic but short-lived Carolingian Renaissance. The man he met was the…