Tag: systematic theology
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New from Wipf and Stock: “The World in His Hands” by Chris Bolt
…From the moment we wake until the time we go to sleep, we are bombarded by the benefits of science in the practical elements of everyday life. Electricity, lights, hot showers, breakfast cereals, clothing, cars, cell phones, roads, security systems, computers, communications, traffic lights, climate control, and entertainment are just a sampling of the many benefits of science. In addition to technological advances, medicine and agriculture progress with science as well. Even educational, political, and marketing strategists invoke science to substantiate their claims. Science dominates the collective Western mindset, and we regard it with the utmost respect. Yet society remains
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The Covenantal Apologetic: Principles to Practice
It cannot be sufficiently stressed that the covenantal apologetic is first and foremost a Reformed apologetic. Consistently, a practitioner will be Confessional, therefore Covenantal and Calvinistic. These are sometimes called the “3 Cs.” This is not being stressed for a subjectivistic “purity’s” sake, nor for controversialism’s sake. It is being stressed for the sake of consistency. First and foremost in Reformed theology is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. From Scripture, we also have revealed the doctrine of God, and all of the other doctrines we believe and hold to. Consistent with these doctrines, we preach, and we …
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The Teaching of Christianity as a Challenge to Unbelief
We have already indicated that the best apologetic defense will invariably be made by him who knows the system of truth of Scripture best. The fight between Christianity and non-Christianity is, in modern times, no piece-meal affair. It is the life-and-death struggle between two mutually opposed life-and-world views. The non-Christian attack often comes to us on matters of historical, or other, detail. It comes to us in the form of objections to certain teachings of Scripture, say, with respect to creation, etc. It may seem to be simply a matter of asking what the facts have been. Back of this …
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Peripatetic 31 – Truck on Fire Edition – and a response to Gary Crampton on Logic and God
Response to Gary Crampton on Logic and God, interrupted by strange events.…
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Peripatetic 30 – Simplicity, Systematic Theology, and Sanctification
Recorded in mid-March; covers the relationship between Divine Simplicity and Systematic Theology, and goes through Ephesians 6 to emphasize the unity of the Christian life and the apologetic task. Additionally, as major examples, addresses practically all of the same subjects recently addressed on the blog, and gives a theological background for my recent comments about a variety of issues, as well as expanding on the previous episode.…
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A Necessary Distinction
In the midst of the turmoil which controversy creates, it is always refreshing to encounter an irenic, yet firm response in the midst of a variety of hasty and conjectural surmises. That irenicism was, of course, the response of Mike Robinson, who many will know from his books and posts on a variety of subjects related to apologetics. When his response was brought to my attention, I was excited to see that he had commented on the situation. Unfortunately, his post was in response only to the initial statement, which was intentionally designed to bring attention to the general …
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T. Kurt Jaros and “Finesse”
T.K. Jaros recently posted an article entitled “Total Depravity: Theological Finesse Needed, Part 1.” As the title implies, it’s obviously merely the first of a series. What struck me, and practically everyone else who I’ve linked the article to, is that immediately after saying “finesse is needed” in the title, the definition he gives of the doctrine is not from a theologian, but from… Wikipedia. Obviously, his posts are not especially thorough, and despite his MA in Systematic Theology, not especially theological, on the whole. As with most of modern evangelicals, his primary interest seems to be philosophy. …
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Chasing the System
Imagine your confession of faith, or your church’s doctrinal statement. Imagine what would happen if you started to play mix and match with the statements contained in it. This is a site dedicated to presuppositional apologetics, obviously, which almost inevitably means that we have to, at some point, personally examine our stance on things like Reconstructionism/Theonomy, along with confessionalism, the paedo/credo divide, eschatology, and other issues along those lines. Here’s what I want to point out, and want to stand out. Be wary of sudden swings, and be mindful of your theological stability (or lack thereof). This is a “mixed” …
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T-Minus 3 Days and Counting
I’m a real stickler for deadlines, schedules, and knowing when something is *supposed* to happen. While I can be disastrously disorganized in a plethora of ways, that is not one of them. That being said, I find it very interesting what I find myself up to in the days just prior to a debate. It’s not that I’m “burnt out” on Annihilationism right now or anything – this post is proof that I’m not, as you will see – it’s that I seem to be drawn to subjects that branch out from the subjects I’ve been repeatedly dealing with during …
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Propitiation, Wrath and Substitution
What is propitiation? That was one of the central elements of the Reformation of doctrine, and one of the most problematic issues in the modern Evangelical movement today. It has to do with many, many areas of theology, and we can’t possibly cover them exhaustively in a single blog post. But in a nutshell, what is it? In a nutshell, it is the “turning away of,” “appeasement” or “satisfaction for” the wrath of God due sinners. It is, therefore, intimately bound up to our notion of what the wrath of God actually is. It is bound up with sacrifice, atonement, …