Visions of Justice and Hope

The One People Commission of the Evangelical Alliance UK have published a short report on race and justice.

From the website:

‘The One People Commission and South Asian Forum are proud to release Visions of Justice and Hope, a vital new resource exploring a pressing question of our time: What does it mean to be human and a Person of Colour? Inspired by the Evangelical Alliance’s report on race, this resource offers an insightful, guided journey into racial justice, experiences of racism within the church, and practical steps for fostering healing and meaningful dialogue.’

More information is available here, and the report can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Evangelical Review of Theology 47, 1 (February 2023)

The latest Evangelical Review of Theology, published by The World Evangelical Alliance, is now online and available in its entirety as a pdf here.

Get a Global Perspective

More Great Reading from the WEA

Evert Van de Poll

Towards a Recognition of the ‘Jewish Church’: the Messianic Jewish Movement and Christianity in Dialogue

The Messianic Jewish movement presents unique theological and diplomatic challenges not just to the Jews whom they hope will come to honour Jesus Christ but to other Christian groups as well. This summary of a July 2022 conference clarifies the issues in a dispassionate, definitive way.

James R. Edwards

The Significance of the Reformation for the Global Church Today

We are all indebted to the 16th-century Reformation for its recovery of the biblical norms of faith and church. However, this message (delivered at a global conference last October) argues that today’s church must fully recover the biblical norms of mission and evangelism to complete the Reformation vision of the church.

Andrew Messmer

A History of Biblical Textual Criticism

Textual criticism of the Bible is not a new science. It has been used by Jews and Christians for over 2,000 years, as a natural outworking of their belief in divine inspiration: if God has inspired a text to teach us about salvation, then we should preserve it as carefully as possible and restore it whenever necessary. This article surveys the history of biblical textual criticism, primarily in the Patristic and Modern periods. The Patristic period contains instructive examples of early textual criticism in practice, whereas modern textual criticism has relied heavily on published editions of both Testaments.

Alan J. Pihringer

C.S. Lewis’ Use of Myth to Convey a Christian Worldview

This article insightfully analyses the apologetic strategy inherent in Lewis’ fiction, including his intent to appeal to the imagination as well as to rational argument and his method of embedding opposing worldviews in his stories so that he could critique them. Lewis’ approach carries lasting value for our efforts to communicate the gospel to our postmodern and entertainment-oriented culture.

Richard L. Smith

The Gospel in Three Dimensions

This study of 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 reveals that the passage presents the Christian life in simple three-point fashion, in terms of repentance, service to God and others, and our ultimate eschatological hope. These three points can be linked to God’s work on three levels—personal, corporate (within the body of Christ), and cosmic, respectively.

Prabo Mihindukulasuriya

Towards a Theology of Race and Ethnicity

Contemporary confrontations on ethnic identity, racial justice, and the challenges of life in multicultural societies make it imperative for Christians to examine how Scripture teaches us to view race and ethnicity. This article identifies fundamental theological orientations that can help us live faithfully as disciples of Christ amidst the conflicting winds of polarization, ethno-religious nationalism, systemic racism, and hyper-sensitive political correctness.

Book Reviews

Evangelical Review of Theology 46, 3 (August 2022)

The latest Evangelical Review of Theology, published by The World Evangelical Alliance, is now online and available in its entirety as a pdf here.

Editor’s Introduction

Rupen Das

What the Majority World Is Saying about Mission Today

With the centre of global Christianity shifting to the Majority World, what do church and mission leaders in the Global South think mission should be about today? This article describes the situation through the eyes of some prominent mission leaders from across the globe.

Emmanuel Oumarou

A Strategy for Christian Missions in Primary Oral Cultures

Nearly one-quarter of all people on earth today are illiterate or rely primarily on oral communication. Standard, text-dependent outreach and discipling methods do not work with these communities. This article, based on considerable first-hand experience as well as academic study, describes the distinctive thinking modes of oral cultures and how to reach them effectively.

Daniel Wiley

Moving Beyond the Bounds: A Response to the Segregationist Interpretation of Acts 17:26

Conflicts over Bible interpretation frequently threaten to undermine the evangelical worldview, as sceptics claim, ‘You can make the Bible say anything you want.’ This article resolves a classic conflict that arose when people holding opposite views on racial segregation used the same Bible verse to defend their positions. It provides an excellent illustration of what can happen when we let cultural convictions guide our biblical studies rather than the reverse.

Ron Lindo, Jr.

From Blackpain to Much Gain: A Biblical Reflection on Dealing with Racial Injustice

We are all called to oppose racism, but reconciliation requires both change by the oppressors and victims’ ability to move beyond bitter focus on their victimization. This article finds, in the exodus story and in Deuteronomy, a pattern by which God uses remembrances of past injustices to spur us towards providing justice for all.

Anna Droll

Toward Healing the Cataract of Racial Segregation: Spaces and Places for Spiritual Formation

Notions of race which promote segregation constitute a present-day cataract that distorts the vision for true spiritual formation in the church. The remedy, as presented in this article, is a theology of belonging which contradicts racial segregation by promoting spaces and places where biblical intimacy can be enacted.

Dennis P. Petri

Political Advice from Three Great Christian Political Philosophers

In this essay, one of the world’s leading advocates for religious freedom shares what he has learned from three of modern history’s greatest Christian political philosophers: 17th-century French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, Dutch lawyer and statesman Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, and British apologist C.S. Lewis. The article offers practical principles with plenty of application.

Leah Farish

By the Same Token: How Communion Can Heal Communities

Every Christian practice, even those that have been long forgotten, had a purpose. This article looks at the historical practice of requiring tokens for admission to communion, encouraging us to recapture the individual and communal benefits of taking communion seriously.

Geoffrey Butler

Building Bridges: Luther, the Lord’s Supper and the Ethiopian Church

Luther and other Reformers, especially Zwingli, had passionate disagreements over the theology of the Lord’s Supper. Surprisingly, Luther seemed to have more in common on this topic with an Ethiopian Christian who visited him in 1534. This article places that interaction in its historical context, suggesting that Ethiopian Christianity in that time period had significant theological similarities with and may even have influenced the European Reformation.

Bruce Barron

Itching Ears and Willing Learners: Balancing the Clarity and Complexity of Scripture

The popularity of the ‘prosperity gospel’, despite its tendencies toward simplistic and unbalanced theology, epitomizes one of the biggest problems in contemporary Christianity: how to provide adequately trained leaders for the global Christian movement, especially in the Majority World. This essay explores reasons why the problem exists, summarizes the contours of what all Christian leaders need to know, and identifies the Re-Forma organization cofounded by Manfred Kohl as a strategic solution.

High-Level Religion Forum Planned Alongside G20’s 2022 Meeting

Book Reviews

Christopher Watkin on Christianity and Critical Race Theory

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here), this one by Christopher Watkin:

Christopher Watkin, ‘Christianity and Critical Race Theory’, Cambridge Papers 31, 2 (June 2022).

Here is the summary:

‘For some Christians critical race theory is part of a dangerous “woke” agenda threatening the church; for others it holds valuable insights into biblical themes of justice and reconciliation. This paper takes a careful look at critical race theory through the work of Derrick Bell, one of its founders, before contrasting it to classical liberalism, which is often seen as the default alternative. It is argued that the biblical pattern of creation, fall, redemption and consummation stakes out a position on race, oppression and freedom that is different to both critical race theory and liberalism, from which they both borrow, which they both distort, and which alone offers concrete hope for the future of race relations.’

The Bible in Transmission (Spring 2022) on the Church, the Bible, and Racism

The latest issue of The Bible in Transmission, from Bible Society, is available online here, offering a collection of articles on ‘The Church, the Bible and Racism’.

I have taken the summaries of articles below from Joshva Raja’s Editorial.

Joshva Raja

Editorial

Joshua T. Searle

What is Wrong with Racism? A Biblical and Theological Answer

As Joshua Searle reminds us there is a non-negotiable biblical mandate and gospel imperative to confront and combat racism. Racism is more than the expression of a set of bigoted beliefs. It operates on many levels and manifests itself in many different ways. It promotes injustice and inequality, and is a ‘blasphemous violation of the sacred dignity of a human being who bears the divine image’.

Mohammed Girma

Racial Justice and the Church: Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

Mohammed Girma discusses the struggle the Church has in moving from right theology to right practice when it comes to matters of racial justice. The Church needs to set a biblical agenda and engage prophetically in the public discourse about racial justice. Although the BAME community bears the brunt of abuse, marginalisation and injustice, we should recognise that the spiritual damage transcends racial boundaries. The issue goes deeper than skin colour because it is an example of the depth of human brokenness. If the Church is to change mindsets and become an inclusive and equal community, the goal must be ‘re-humanising by restoring the distorted divine image in humanity’.

Chigor Chike

Creating Space for Diversity within Church Communities

Chigor Chike reminds us that racism is about power. Building on his work in the area of ethnic diversity and inclusion, he argues that one strategy for confronting and overcoming racism is the promotion of diversity within our church communities. Diversity is a good thing. Churches wishing to confront racism should create space for diversity within their communities. This will be uncomfortable for some church leaders but they should commit to working with BAME people in order to fight racism.

Owen Hylton

The Reconciled Church: The Antioch Model

Owen Hylton shows that diversity and racial reconciliation are not purely modern inventions of a secular society. Rather they are at the very heart of God’s purpose: ‘God always intended... one day to display his wisdom through the multicoloured, multi-layered, multicultural diverse Church.’ Reflecting on the example of the Early Church in Antioch, Hylton outlines some of the steps churches can take to become reconciled and more integrated communities.

Jason Shields

Race, Justice and Social Analysis

Drawing on biblical views of justice and righteousness, Jason Shields asks church communities to transform themselves. They should alter their thinking and reimagine their prophetic role in challenging and changing the sinful and discriminatory structures within the Church and wider society. He invites churches to be part of an alternative biblical vision for diverse and inclusive communities, one that recognises the dignity of all people.

Chine McDonald

The God of All People

Chine McDonald writes about her experience of being both black and female in a world that in many ways is designed to elevate both whiteness and patriarchy. ‘White supremacy can come in the form of monochrome leadership, theology and practice.’ This is the status quo. However, the Church should be better than this because it should be actively breaking down the dividing walls of hostility that exist between people. The Church should be like a mosaic of different shapes, colours and sizes that come together to form a beautiful picture.

Ingrid Reneau Walls

Transcending the Dehumanising Effects of Slavery and Racism: Hope and the African American Spirituals

Ingrid Reneau reflects on how the Bible became the enduring vehicle for many forms of radical resistance thinking and actions for those Africans cruelly taken into slavery. Informed by biblical stores of exile, liberation, lament and hope, the African American Spirituals gave those forced into slavery the cultural and spiritual tools to overcome the limitations of their present realities and affirm a right to life. In doing so, those who sang and danced the Spirituals rejected the Christianity of those who enslaved them.

Word and World 9 (June 2021/February 2022)

Issue 9 of Word and World, published by IFES in June 2021, has been expanded with with further articles on the topic of ‘Race and Justice. The issue now contains the below pieces, which are available from here, and as a pdf here.

Paula Fuller

Left Behind: Justice and the Church after George Floyd

Paula Fuller, the Executive Vice President of People and Culture at InterVarsity USA, reflects on persistent racial divides in the American church and how students should be shaped to be agents of reconciliation.

N.T. Wright

Undermining Racism

N.T. Wright, author and theologian, also shares his perspective on the church as God’s worldwide family, and how ‘racism is a failure of vocation.’

Bethany Peevy

Let Justice Roll: Building Bridges, Pursuing Justice

We also look back at our series of Conexión articles from the past year, with stories of students across IFES regions who are choosing to confront and address injustice in their own contexts.

Jasmine Foo

Translating Vision into Reality: Normalizing the Biblical Image of Racial Relations

Jasmine Foo, former staff worker from FES Singapore and Assistant Director in Strategic Planning & Training with State Courts of Singapore, now undertaking doctoral research in Biblical Studies at King's College London, brings a perspective on ‘Translating Vision into Reality: Normalizing the Biblical Image of Racial Relations’ through an Asian lens.

Eleasah Phoenix Louis

Preservation and Liberation

Eleasah Phoenix Louis, a UK-based emerging theologian and consultant with various church and parachurch organisations, presents her perspectives on preservation and liberation in relation to race and justice issues.

Alejandra Ortiz

The Letter of James in Contexts of Inequality: A Latin American Perspective

Alejandra Ortiz, a member of IFES staff in Latin America, brings us perspective from her region on how to live out the epistle of James in contexts of inequality.

Evangelical Review of Theology 46, 1 (February 2022)

The latest Evangelical Review of Theology, published by The World Evangelical Alliance, is now online and available in its entirety as a pdf here.

Johannes Reimer

The Erosion of Church Growth through Patriarchal Leadership in Russia

Authoritarian patriarchal leadership has spawned abuse, scandal and controversy caused tragedies in churches and Christian ministries all over the world. This article highlights the pervasive problem of autocratic leadership among Russian evangelicals – explaining the historical reasons for the development of this pattern, analysing its components and urging a healthier way forward.

Elmer John Thiessen

In Pursuit of Intellectual Virtue

This article rigorously and insightfully examines three intellectual virtues – love of knowledge and truth, intellectual humility, and open-mindedness – that are essential to Christian maturity and powerful in overcoming strife, contention and polarization.

Richard L. Smith

Such a Heart as This: The Intellectual Implications of Deuteronomy 5:29

Contrary to the frequent Christian tendency to devalue intellectual pursuits, Richard L. Smith finds an emphasis on loving God with the mind throughout the Old Testament. This excerpt from his new book shows how God communicates this message through Deuteronomy.

Dennis P. Petri and Ronald R. Boyd-MacMillan

What Persecution To Endure, To Resist, or To Flee?

How to respond to persecution is a complex decision involving both principled and strategic considerations. In this article, two of the world’s leading experts on religious persecution draw on both Scripture and their considerable experience to discuss the options comprehensively.

Francis Jr. S. Samdao

On the Idea of Contextualization: Cultural Sensitivity and Catholic Sensibility

How do we present the Christian faith so as to be sensitive and accommodating to local cultures while not obscuring the non-negotiable truths of the gospel? This article, authored in an Asian context but with worldwide relevance, offers guidance on fulfilling both of those imperatives.

Israel Oluwole Olofinjana

Jesus’ Discipleship Model of Suffering and Sacrifice: Discipleship and Racial Justice

How to pursue racial justice has been a contentious issue in many places, particularly because of the allegedly radical views of some pro-justice organizations. This article takes a different approach, depicting racial justice as an implication of whole-life discipleship and proposing practical actions for Christians.

David A. Clark

Evangelical Identity Formation in Post-colonial Britain

Modern cultural changes have divided evangelicals in many parts of the world, with some urging progressive agendas and other resisting what they consider radical ideas. Using racial justice issues as an example, this article warns against both extremes and charts a course of sensitivity toward the aggrieved as part of building a more unified church.

Leah Farish

The ‘Sins of Equals’ and Racial Justice

Evangelicals believe that Scripture and the great confessions of faith remain relevant to our modern lives. This short essay demonstrates that relevance by applying a little- known passage from the Westminster Larger Catechism of 1648 to race relations.

Book Reviews

Word and World 9 (June 2021)

‘Race and Justice’ is the theme of the latest issue of Word and World, published by IFES. The issue contains the below pieces, which are available from here (summaries are taken from Tim Adams’ Editorial).

Paula Fuller

Left Behind: Justice and the Church after George Floyd

Paula Fuller, the Executive Vice President of People and Culture at InterVarsity USA, reflects on persistent racial divides in the American church and how students should be shaped to be agents of reconciliation.

N.T. Wright

Undermining Racism

N.T. Wright, author and theologian, also shares his perspective on the church as God’s worldwide family, and how ‘racism is a failure of vocation.’

Bethany Peevy

Let Justice Roll: Building Bridges, Pursuing Justice

We also look back at our series of Conexión articles from the past year, with stories of students across IFES regions who are choosing to confront and address injustice in their own contexts.

Lausanne Global Analysis 10, 1 (January 2021)

The latest issue of Lausanne Global Analysis, from The Lausanne Movement, is available online from here, including pdfs of individual articles as below.

Kirst Rievan

Uncovering Discrimination in Missions: Toward a ‘Third Culture’ of Oneness in Christ

As global church and mission leaders, we want to see diversity in our teams. But we also know how difficult it is to create teams where differences are not only tolerated, but warmly embraced. Kirst Rievan addresses the complex issue of unintentional discrimination in Christian organizations against staff and partners of different ethnicities, providing methods, the solution of a ‘third culture’, and penetrating questions for reflection.

Daewon Moon

Pentecostalism in African Christianity: The Formation and Scope of a Distinctive Spirituality

One particular church that is aware of the global nature of Christianity and what it means to be multicultural is the African Pentecostal church. Daewon Moon, Academic Dean at International Leadership University in Burundi, invites us to recognize ‘the remarkable emergence of Pentecostal churches in Africa’, celebrating its ‘experiential and spontaneous nature’.

Gladys Mwiti

Building Hope and Resilience in the COVID-19 Storm: Lament, Communities of Care, and the New Normal

It’s been almost a year since the outbreak of COVID-19, and many of us are feeling ‘Corona fatigue.’ Gladys Mwiti, Consulting Clinical Psychologist and Trauma Specialist, sensitively addresses some of the psychosocial impact of the pandemic and how holistic care for others and ourselves helps us build resilience and hope in the midst of the pandemic.

Ted Lankester

Faith, Health, and Collaborative Love: Pandemic Partnership for Health Professionals and the Church

All of us are wondering, what are the long-term impacts of COVID-19? Ted Lankester, President and Senior Clinician of Thrive Worldwide, considers this question in especially in the realm of global health and development. What would it look like for health professionals to partner with the church?

Anvil 36, 3 (2020) on Race and Colonialism

The most-recent issue of Anvil (published by the Church Mission Society) is devoted to the topic of ‘Faultlines in Mission: Reflections on Race and colonialism’.

In the Editorial, Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy writes:

‘This issue of Anvil is inspired by a willingness to offer an introspective response to this global wave of protest calling for racial justice and asking with insistence whether black lives do indeed matter in our societies and institutions. It felt imperative to ask the question of Church Mission Society and its particular contribution to the subject both in its distant and more contemporary history. While this is not set out as an assessment of CMS’s record on questions of systemic racism and the legacy of imperialism, this issue aims to examine potential fault lines in Christian mission, with a particular attention to the legacy of empire in our formulation of missional practices and strategies […]

‘At the heart of this edition is a commitment to pose a number of critical questions examining the tension between imperialist/colonialist ideals and Christian ideals of redemptive justice and liberative narratives. Through the various contributions, we hope to outline possible avenues towards a critical missional framework that offers a solid pathway towards a future in which racial justice and reconciliation are an achievable reality […]

‘Our hope in focusing this volume on the question of race and colonisation is not merely an attempt to join the bandwagon and do our bit for the cause. What drives us is a willingness to engage in meaningful and continuing conversations about what we believe is a fundamental Christian ideal – racial justice. As publisher of Anvil, CMS is mindful of the fact that, as an organisation, it is not in any position to lecture others. Our prayer is that as we raise questions and engage with these contributions, they will stimulate our own reflection, and encourage us to remain active agents for racial justice and reconciliation.’

Individual contributions can be read from here, and the entire issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

John Coffey on Difficult Histories

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here), this one by John Coffey:

John Coffey, ‘Difficult Histories: Christian Memory and Historic Injustice’, Cambridge Papers 29, 4 (December 2020).

Here is the summary:

‘Recent years have witnessed heated debate over how Western nations remember their pasts. A generation of historical research on racial slavery and imperial expansion is now informing public memory. The turn to ‘difficult histories’ has provoked a reaction and calls for the reassertion of ‘patriotic history’. This paper surveys the controversy and asks how Christians should respond. It argues that Christian memory should be shaped by the difficult history we find in Scripture.

The Bible in Transmission (Autumn 2018) on Reconciliation

The latest issue of The Bible in Transmission, from Bible Society, is available online here, offering a collection of articles on the theme of ‘Reconciliation’.

I have taken the ‘tasters’ of articles below from Tony Graham’s editorial.

Tony Graham

Editorial

Sarah Hills

From Estrangement  to Communion: A Theology of Reconciliation

Two of our contributors, Sarah Hills and Gordon Kennedy, remind us that this ministry of reconciliation begins with the transforming grace of God, the wounded healer.

Glenn Jordan & Pádraig Ó Tuama 

Sharing stories: Narratives, Reconciliation and Public Theology in Ireland and Britain

Our second article comes out of the Corrymeela community in Northern Ireland. Established in 1965, Corrymeela’s mission is to ‘transform division through human encounter’. Here Glenn Jordan and Pádraig Ó Tuama discuss, with a focus on the book of Ruth, the importance of creating space to share stories and the power narratives have to confront and transform. As we approach the centenary of the partition of Ireland and face the uncertainty of the UK leaving the European Union, Glenn and Pádraig challenge us to examine ‘the stories that will affect our civic, bordered, political, religious and relational realities. These realities invite deep and complicated reflection on the past, and the ways in which the stories told (or not told) of the past can affect the practice of the present.’ What sort of society do we want to become?

Gordon Kennedy

Broken Relationships

Two of our contributors, Sarah Hills and Gordon Kennedy, remind us that this ministry of reconciliation begins with the transforming grace of God, the wounded healer. As Gordon states, ‘if we long to see reconciliation in our relationships with one another we must begin with our reconciliation to God our Father.’

Fleur Dorrell

Believing is Seeing: Reconciling Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus Paintings

Our need for God’s grace is highlighted in Fleur Dorrell’s reflections on Caravaggio’s two paintings of the Supper at Emmaus based on the story in Luke’s Gospel. Here Fleur explores ‘how Caravaggio uses symbol and revelation to reconcile art with reality and faith with salvation to open the disciples’ eyes to Christ’.

Elizabeth Oldfield

Loving your Digital Neighbour: New Media and Reconciliation in an Age of Incivility

As technology drives changes in society, significant interpersonal challenges emerge. As David Goodhart argues, social media has amplified our differences and the tone has changed. We are living in an age of increasing incivility. So how do we deal with difference and what practical steps can we take to help restore broken relationships? Drawing on her own experience of social media, Elizabeth Oldfield reflects on what it means to love your neighbour in a digital age.

Ian Christie

Reconciliation with the Earth? From Ecological Violence to Peacemaking with the Creation

In our penultimate article, we return to the subject of war – our war on nature. Ian Christie argues that in the face of a worsening ecological crisis we need to urgently rethink our ethics and values. The potential for ecological reconciliation is real and Christian communities can take a lead and be ‘exemplars of new ways of living and cooperating that demonstrate reconciliation’ with God’s creation.

R. David Muir

The Windrush Generation: History, Memory and Racial Reconciliation

Social divisions are not new, as David Muir outlines in his account of the Windrush generation, who experienced significant racism and discrimination. ‘The Church can, and should be, the place where all people feel welcome and accepted.’ However, more needs to be done to make our churches more inclusive and our society more cohesive.

Paul Williams

Afterword

Themelios 43, 1 (April 2018)

The latest Themelios is online here (and available here as a single pdf), containing the below articles.

Editorial

D.A. Carson

The Postmodernism That Refuses to Die

Strange Times

Daniel Strange

A Wiser Idiot

Scott R. Swain

B.B. Warfield and the Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity 

B.B. Warfield’s 1915 ISBE article on the Trinity presents the Princeton theologian’s mature thinking on the biblical bases and meaning of the doctrine and offers a revisionist interpretation of the personal names of “Father,” “Son,” and “Spirit.” Instead of interpreting the personal names of the Trinity in terms of relations of origin, Warfield argues that the personal names only signify likeness between the persons. The present article locates Warfield’s revision within its immediate and broader historical contexts, critically engages Warfield’s proposed revision, and discusses the importance of a traditional interpretation of the personal names for Trinitarian theology.

Fred G. Zaspel

Reversing the Gospel: Warfield on Race and Racism

The giant of Old Princeton, B.B. Warfield, outspokenly condemned the racism and rigid segregation of American society of his day. His views were remarkably ahead of his time with regard to an understanding of the evil of racism and even somewhat prophetic with regard to the further evil that would result from it. His convictions were explicitly grounded in an understanding and faithful application of the unity of the human race in Adam and the unity and equal standing of believers in Christ. This brief essay surveys Warfield’s arguments within the context of his day.

Bruce Riley Ashford

A Theological Sickness unto Death: Philip Rieff’s Prophetic Analysis of our Secular Age

Philip Rieff’s sociological analyses explore the implications of Western Civilization’s unprecedented attempt to maintain society and culture without reference to God. He argues that this attempt to desacralize the social order is deeply detrimental and encourages Westerners to resacralize the social order. For Western Christians who wish to help facilitate a “missionary encounter” between the gospel and our secular age, Rieff’s work will pay rich, albeit uneven dividends. His work is most helpful when diagnosing the ills of our secular age but is less illumining in its prognosis and prescription. Thus, a Christian framework of thought must be employed to evaluate Rieff’s work and leverage it for the Christian mission.

Geoffrey Chang

Spurgeon’s Use of Luther against the Oxford Movement

Nearly three hundred fifty years after Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the castle church door in Wittenburg, Charles Haddon Spurgeon confronted the growing influence of Roman Catholic teaching within the Church of England. Led by Edward Pusey and others, the Oxford Movement called the Church of England to return to her pre-Reformation traditions and teaching. Spurgeon considered this a betrayal of the gospel and, beginning in 1864, would take a Luther-like stand for the truth. This essay will argue that Spurgeon drew from Luther’s model of bold leadership and teaching on justification by faith in his battle against the Oxford Movement.

Andrew G. Shead

Burning Scripture with Passion: A Review of The Psalms (The Passion Translation)

Brian Simmons has made a new translation of the Psalms (and now the whole New Testament) which aims to ‘re-introduce the passion and re of the Bible to the English reader.’ He achieves this by abandoning all interest in textual accuracy, playing fast and loose with the original languages, and inserting so much new material into the text that it is at least 50% longer than the original. The result is a strongly sectarian translation that no longer counts as Scripture; by masquerading as a Bible it threatens to bind entire churches in thrall to a false god.

Michael Strickland

When (and How) English-speaking Evangelicals Embraced Q

This article considers the emergence of an evangelical endorsement of the Two-Source Hypothesis as a solution to the Synoptic Problem in the first half of the twentieth century. Conservative scholars such as B.B. Warfield, Geerhardus Vos, A.T. Robertson, and W. Graham Scroggie considered the hypothesis, and its concomitant Q document, to be amenable to evangelical sensibilities. Specifically, the article details how the scholars considered the Two-Source Hypothesis to be a scientific conclusion, and one that presented an early source for the life of Jesus with a high Christology.

Book Reviews

9Marks Journal 12, 3 (2015) on Multi-Ethnic Churches

The latest issue of the 9Marks Journal, available here as a pdf, is devoted to the topic of ‘Multi-Ethnic Churches’.

In the Editor’s Note, Jonathan Leeman writes:

‘[C]hurches today too often mimic their host culture’s ethnic rivalries, whether in South Africa, India, or America. Or at least, too often they forget they possess a resource for overcoming racial or ethnic strife that the world does not have: the gospel.

‘Most evangelicals recognize that possessing the righteousness of Christ means “putting on” that righteousness in every-day decisions. Yet the same is true of the reconciliation we share with one another in the gospel (see Eph. 2:11-22). We are to “put on” that reconciliation. If we do not put on that righteousness, and if we do not put on that reconciliation, we call into question whether we have been declared righteous or “one new man.”’

Jeremy Ive on Peacebuilding and the Ending of Apartheid

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online, this one by Jeremy Ive:

Jeremy Ive, ‘Peacebuilding and the Ending of Apartheid’, Cambridge Papers 23, 2 (June 2014).

Here is the summary:

‘The Newick Park Initiative (NPI) in South Africa was a Christian initiative which helped to build the trust and a shared national vision across the political spectrum in the years around the release of Nelson Mandela in early 1990. It also prepared the ground for the mediation of Professor Washington Okumu in 1994 which made possible the peaceful conduct of the first fully non-racial elections of that year. The relational principles governing NPI are a guide for Christian peacebuilding at a national level, applicable in other contexts as well.

More from Cardus on Abraham Kuyper

Cardus continues to post entries in its series on ‘Kuyper for Christians’:

Richard Mouw

Kuyper for Christians

Kyle Bennett

Taking the Game a Little More Seriously

Jeff Liou

Neither Salad Bowl, Nor Melting Pot

Edward Yang

Art: A Gift of God

William Whitney

‘Pray More’ is Not Counselling

Matthew Kaemingk

Faith, Work, and Beards: Why Abraham Kuyper Thinks We Need All Three

Bob Covolo

How Abraham Kuyper Saved My GPA (Or, Why College Ministries Need Kuyper)

Cory Willson

Learning Proper Manners for the Religious Roundtable: Kuyper and Convicted Civility

Clay Cooke

Evangelicalism and Neocalvinism: Friends or Enemies?

More on Abraham Kuyper

I’m still waiting for my copy of Richard Mouw’s new book on Abraham Kuyper (see here). Meanwhile, taking his cue from Mouw, Byron Borger has another lengthy set of semi-autobiographical reflections here on how Kuyperian themes have influenced their ministry at Hearts & Minds Books.

In addition, Cardus continues to post entries in its series on ‘Kuyper for Christians’:

Richard Mouw

Kuyper for Christians

Kyle Bennett

Taking the Game a Little More Seriously

Jeff Liou

Neither Salad Bowl, Nor Melting Pot

Edward Yang

Art: A Gift of God

William Whitney

‘Pray More’ is Not Counselling

Matthew Kaemingk

Faith, Work, and Beards: Why Abraham Kuyper Thinks We Need All Three