19 Oct 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
I'm reading Alan Jacobs' recent book The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis. I'm more persuaded by some aspects of it, less so by others, and stimulated by all. I likely will not have time to write up a full review, which would in any case probably be longer than the book...
Read more → 03 Oct 2018
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
I grew up with a very normal American view of Halloween. It was a day where I dressed up like cartoon characters or cartoonish or campy monsters in order to have a few laughs and get some candy. There really was no weighty “significance” behind it. It was just good clean fun. As I got older, things...
Read more → 03 Oct 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In response to yesterday's post on Benjamin Rush, a colleague in History, Matt Gaetano, points to more on this issue among early Americans as recorded in Ellis Sandoz's book Republicanism, Religion, and the Soul of America. Today we'll look at one brief episode in the drama. John Adams, a frequent...
Read more → 02 Oct 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
The folks over at Sententiae Antiquae recently posted a passage worth reading from a letter of Benjamin Rush to Ashbel Green from 1807. Therein Rush says: No more Latin should be learned in these schools than is necessary to translate that language into English, and no more Greek than is necessary...
Read more → 24 Sep 2018
Posted by Mark Jones 
Christians have not agreed on the proper mode of baptism. Many believe that the only proper way to baptize someone is by the full submersion of the body under water. They typically argue that baptizo means immerse and they also appeal to Romans 6 as a watertight (pardon the pun) argument proving the need...
Read more → 19 Sep 2018
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
It's time to bring our series on the identity and government of the church to a conclusion. You can find the previous installments here: Part 1: The Crisis of Rome and Its Claims of Ultimate Authority Part 2: Church Origins and Officers in the New Testament Part 3: Bishop-Elders and Bishops in the Late...
Read more → 14 Sep 2018
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
As we move into the third century, the relevant body of Christian literature grows considerably. The episcopalian structure of government has become more universal, and all of the writers of this period reference a singular bishop as holding a place of authority. They also largely repeat Irenaeus' argument...
Read more → 13 Sep 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
God changes us over time. That change begins with the lesson--which may take a lifetime to learn in the way that it really needs to be learned--that the first thing we must do is to give up trying to justify, or vindicate, ourselves. Abandoning the desire for self-justification is the necessary precondition...
Read more → 13 Sep 2018
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
We are continuing our look at the way the early church organized itself. You can see the earlier posts here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. This post will highlight some of the more important development that would eventually lead to the Roman Catholic claims about the relationship between Peter and Rome's...
Read more → 11 Sep 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Augustine talks a lot about moms in the Confessions: particularly his own mother and the church as the mother of the faithful--though not Mary. This is unsurprising, because Augustine knows nothing of Marian devotion. But it is not only the church who is the mother of believers; Scripture is, too....
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