Category: Church
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...
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...
Evangelicalism, Christian Identity, and Church Membership
By Jonathan Leeman A little while back one of my favorite preachers offered a long list of Christian books he recommends. It included excellent books about God and salvation and missions and the Christian life. But, strangely, it did not...
Why Evangelicals Should Care More About Ecclesiology
By Tish Harrison Warren A significant way that evangelicalism as an historic movement formed its identity was to unite around a “gospel core” that excluded questions about ecclesiology and church governance. In his (essential!) Democratization of American Christianity, Nathan Hatch...
Religious Liberty and Religious Establishment: A Reply to Joseph Trabbic
By Korey Maas In recent years, serious Christians of all stripes have begun to negotiate anew the difficult questions of the Church’s place in (or out of) the prevailing liberal order. Joseph Trabbic is therefore to be commended for his...
Today’s World Would Not Be Strange to Paul: On Church Discipline
By Joe Rigney Wes Hill has written a post setting forth five theses on church discipline. Wes and I attended seminary at the same time, and I count him a friend and a brother. A year or so ago, he...
The Crisis in Christian Discipline and the Opportunity Before Us
We are long overdue for a sustained argument about the purpose and means of church discipline as well as the broader role of Christian discipline in the life of individual Christians and Christian communities. By church discipline, I mean some...