Category: Church
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...
Reading the Hymns: Joy to the World
By Steven Wedgeworth Though it is today one of the most popular Christmas hymns, “Joy to the World,” was not originally a Christmas carol at all. Written by Isaac Watts, “Joy to the World” originally appeared in his 1719 The Psalms...
What of the Baptists? A Response to Samuel James
Joseph Minich also assisted with the writing of this response. As editors of People of the Promise: A Mere Protestant Eccleisology, we were honored by Samuel D. James’ review of our co-writers’ primer in Christianity Today. And while James tone...
Mary Did You Know? A Mere O Symposium
By Christian Young, Susannah Black, Jon Coppage, and Jon Askonas Today we will be discussing a much loved, but also much hated, Christmas song, “Mary, Did You Know?”
How to Celebrate the Reformation
Today marks the 500th anniversary of the day that Martin Luther (might have) nailed his famous 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg. While the historicity of that famous event is in dispute, what is not in question is...
Ecclesiology and the Zombie Pastor Problem
A brief note on the furor surrounding Patheos’s decision to add Mark Driscoll to their Evangelical channel: One of the common responses when something like this hits the press is for evangelicals, self-lacerating sorts that we are, to say that...
A Social Justice Warrior in King Roderick’s Court
Last Thursday’s “Time for the Benedict Option?” discussion hosted by Plough, First Things, and The American Conservative was a great summary of the Benedict Option debate so far and where things ought to go from here. You can watch the...