Category: Theology and Practice
What Kuyper Gets Wrong: On the Problem with Denominationalism
By Ruben Alvarado Once upon a time, the state shared the public square with the church. The central location of the church building in every European town is mute testimony to this state of affairs. But those days are long...
The Real Place for Conflict: On Keeping Controversy Close to Home
By Justin Frank Social media gives unprecedented opportunities to know about and engage in controversy. Many of these controversies are rooted in places far from us; involve people we’ve never met (and will likely never know); and grow out of...
A Christian Ethic of Sex in a Pornographic Age
By Joshua Heavin In the late fourth and early fifth centuries, the church had no shortage of theological controversies and societal crises at hand. Yet several prominent theologians nonetheless devoted significant time to writing about marriage and human sexuality. St....
On Theological Education and the Church’s Health
By Joshua Heavin In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Review of Books, Alan Jacobs described the realization that compelled him to write The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis: “…what was so...
John Milbank: A Guide for the Perplexed
By Peter J. Leithart I. Theology As Master Discourse. I first met John Milbank, my doctoral supervisor, at a welcome event for new graduate students sponsored by the Divinity School of the University of Cambridge. During the meeting, each faculty member...
Living Local Fiction
By S. Dorman On first moving to Maine and seeing a line of tall ledges from a nearby road, I was enchanted, surprised. I’d never seen anything like them before: Mountains like waves of rock waiting to crash over the...
Baptist Sacramentology and the Concern with Donatism
By Jonathan Leeman (1: Gavin Ortlund’s Initial Post, 2: Jonathan Leeman’s Response, 3: Gavin Ortlund’s Response) Gavin, Thanks for your elucidating and studied replies. Good conversation. Here are some brief responses to the various points you brought up. “The” Baptist View on Membership...
There is One Baptism, but Not One Baptist View of Baptism
By Gavin Ortlund (1: Gavin Ortlund’s Initial Post, 2: Jonathan Leeman’s Response, 4: Jonathan Leeman’s Final Response) Thanks Jonathan for your irenic and thoughtful response. I, too, am grateful for our time together in D.C. and our friendship and partnership in the gospel....
Church Membership and the Definition of Baptism
By Jonathan Leeman (1: Gavin Ortlund’s Initial Post, 3: Gavin Ortlund’s Response, 4: Jonathan Leeman’s Final Response) Gavin, Thank you for the opportunity to interact with you on this matter. I’m grateful for you and our partnership in the gospel, and I...
Can We Reject Paedobaptism and Still Receive Paedobaptists?
By Gavin Ortlund (2: Jonathan Leeman’s Response, 3: Gavin Ortlund’s Response, 4: Jonathan Leeman’s Final Response) There are some great discussions happening on Twitter about baptism and church membership (for instance, Jake Meador started this one, which carried on for quite...