Latest Article
Redemptive-Historical Hermeneutics Part 1
Print(Volume 24, Issue 4, August/September 2018) Redemptive-historical hermeneutics (RH), sometimes called Christocentric hermeneutics, has gained a lot of traction in recent years, almost exclusively within Reformed circles. It is the interpretive system used by those embracing Liberate Sanctification and is important to understand in light of recent TOTT papers on that subject. RH is also accepted by a broader spectrum of theologians, many of whom reject Liberate Theology, but to my knowledge virtually all would be adherents of Covenantal Theology. It seems to have emerged, in its modern form, from Reformed churches in the Netherlands in the 1940s in an attempt to understand how the narrative and historical sections of the Old Testament should be understood and preached. It appears to be a reaction to those who viewed the stories and individuals within Scripture as merely examples to imitate or shun. Instead the RH founders saw these narratives, and in…Read More »
Recent Articles
Sanctification Debates Part 3
Print(Volume 24, Issue 3, June/July 2018) In this concluding article on sanctification debates centered around what is often termed Liberate Theology (LT), and at other times the “grace model” or “monergistic” sanctification, the goal is to evaluate the basic teachings …Read More »Sanctification Debates Part 2
Print(Volume 24, Issue 2, April/May 2018) Liberate Theology (LT), as we saw in Part 1 of this series, is a method of sanctification which focuses on what its teachers call the indicatives of Scripture, rather than the imperatives. Indicatives are …Read More »Sanctification Debates Part 1
Print(Volume 24, Issue 1, January-March 2018) Throughout church history the issue of sanctification, how Christians change, grow and mature, has been hotly debated. Those who cling to the Reformed position on salvation, that is, salvation is a gift of God …Read More »My Favorite Books Part V
Print(Volume 23, Issue 6, November/December 2017) Since I began writing book reviews a number of years ago, it seemed to some that the majority of these reviews dealt with books that were either errant or at best mixed in their …Read More »
Recent Book Reviews
He Will Reign Forever, A Biblical Theology of the Kingdom of God by Michael J. Vlach
PrintMichael Vlach, Professor of Theology at the Master’s Seminary, has written what I would consider the finest book on the kingdom of God since Alva McCain’s The Greatest of the Kingdom. He writes from a decidedly dispensational position and argues …Read More »Good News for a Change, How to Talk to Anyone About Jesus by Matt Mikalatos
PrintMatt Mikalatos is an energetic and enthusiastic evangelist who has served with Cru for over 20 years and has experimented with numerous methods of proclaiming the gospel to the lost. In Good News for a Change he shares some of …Read More »How to Stay Christian in Seminary by David Mathis & Jonathan Parnell
PrintIt is common knowledge that seminary can be a spiritual graveyard (pp. 18, 34). Intellectual accessibility exceeds spiritual capacity in a hurry (p. 16). The purpose of this small book is “not to steer Christians away from seminaries, but to …Read More »Blessed, A History of the American Prosperity Gospel by Kate Bowler
PrintThe prosperity gospel has emerged from the roots of the 19th century New Thought movement, coupled with elements of 20th century Pentecostalism and the American “can-do” spirit, to become the dominant force in 21st century Christianity, especially in America but …Read More »