The Coming Millennial Midlife Crisis

One of the things I most admire about the Millennial generation is their desire to make a difference in the world. They are convinced that it’s their responsibility to make the world a better place. Not only that, but they believe they actually can. It’s little wonder, then, that it’s so easy to rally this generation to the sake of causes—climate change or gun control or social inequalities or other matters of justice. They’ve got a high assessment of both …

A La Carte (5/22)

Overcoming Temptation – D.A. Carson talks about some simultaneous steps to take for overcoming temptation, including a deepening delight in Jesus. A Crossway Opportunity – Crossway is not only a publisher but also a not-for-profit ministry that relies in part on gifts from people like you to accomplish major ministry projects worldwide. They have a unique opportunity they want you to help with. Four Marks of Fruit-Bearing Christianity – Here’s some wisdom from J.C. Ryle. “The Christianity which I call fruit-bearing, …

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Books I Didn’t Review

Today I’ve got another batch of books that I didn’t review. Life is such that there are lots of great books that I just cannot find the time to read and many other books I’m simply not qualified to review. These books tend to find their way into these round-ups of the ones I received and looked at but for one reason or another just couldn’t review. I list them here in the hopes that at least some of them …

Weekend A La Carte (11/26)

No End to Eurogedden – I found this article rather interesting, and particularly the distinction made between the 2 sides of the Euro divide. “In effect, there is already two currencies: the ‘Lutheran Euro,’ characterized by Germany, the Netherlands and Finland. The label has nothing to do with religion but with countries that are based on Protestant work ethic, discipline and thrift. Then there is the ‘Latin Euro,’ characterized by France, Italy, Spain and Portugal where style is often more important …

RCT2: Christianity & Liberalism

Today we come to our second reading in Gresham Machen’s classic book Christianity & Liberalism and just for the occasion I’ve got a nice new banner graphic (isn’t it pretty?). Our reading assignment for this week was the second chapter which is titled simply “Doctrine.”  I know that many of the people who will read this blog post are not participating in the Reading Classics program, so I’d like to give you something to chew on. To that end I am …

Church History Surveys

I have always enjoyed studying history and, over the years, have read several church history texts. One thing I’ve noticed just about every time is that many of these church histories fail to make real distinctions between true gospel-centered Christianity and a kind of inculturated or tradition-based Christianity. That has always been disappointing to me. I suppose I am looking for a history of the true church, of true Christianity, not just a history of what calls itself the church …

A Prerequisite for Membership

I have been reading a lot of R.C. Sproul lately, partly for work and partly for pleasure. This week I made my way through Reason to Believe, “a response to common objections to Christianity.” One of the common objections to the faith is that Christians are a bunch of lousy hypocrites, people who call out other people for being sinners, but who still sin themselves. Here is how Sproul answers this: What happens is that people observe church members sinning. …

A La Carte (10/3)

The Truth About Christian Bookstores Dan Edelen has a good post explaining why Christian bookstores sell what they sell and why so many of them are disappearing. Geert Wilders: Wisdom and Courage In this speech Geert Wilders, chairman Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, gave some interesting information about the Islamicization of Europe. “The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks. The Eiffel Tower and Trafalgar Square and Rome’s ancient buildings and maybe the canals of …

The Decline of African American Theology

Thabiti Anyabwile’s new book is one where the title really says it all: “The Decline of African American Theology: From Biblical Faith to Cultural Captivity.” This is a book that traces the sad decline of the broad stream of African American theology from its orthodox past to its increasingly unorthodox, irrelevant present. The book makes what is, to my knowledge, a unique contribution to the study of African American theology. “What should be studied as the most central characteristic of …

Giveaways, Amazon Reviews, and Forgotten Heroes

This is a compilation of various things that caught my eye this week. They were things that needed more explanation than I could offer in A La Carte, but not enough that they merited an article of their own. The Great October Giveaway Winners The Great October Giveaway comes to a close today. I have already drawn the names of the winners and will be sending emails out shortly. So check your inbox in the new few minutes to see …