Calvin

"Hagar, servant of Sarai." So the angel of the Lord addressed the Egyptian slave (Gen. 16.8) who had the great misfortune to be drawn into Abraham and Sarah's scheme to assist the realization of God's promise (Gen. 16.1-6). Upon the surface, this address -- and especially the appellation "servant...

Given the controversies surrounding justification in his day, it's no surprise that Calvin camps out on Gen. 15.6 ("[Abraham] believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness") for a significant space of time in his commentary on the first book of the Bible. This text, after all,...

In a New York Times' article from August 2010, Paul Vitello described the serious difficulties faced by many Christian ministers in America today: "Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of...

In a New York Times' article from August 2010, Paul Vitello described the serious difficulties faced by many Christian ministers in America today: "Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of...

In previous posts, I have suggested that the question of suffering before God needs to remain an open question - a question that we, along with the Psalmists, bring before God in the midst of our grief, anger, and confusion. All of this relates to prayer. But it also relates to action - action in a...

A passage from Calvin's commentary on Ezekiel 18:14-17 has the distinction of being among the last, perhaps the last, of his comments on the relationship among justification, faith and works. Apparently written shortly before his death in 1564, it is perhaps as pointed as any of his comments on...

Randall C. Zachman, Reconsidering John Calvin . Current Issues in Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, viii + 212pp. $29.99/£18.99 This elegant little book formed the content of the Warfield Lectures given at Princeton Theological Seminary in October 2009 in honour of Calvin's...

Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvatio n (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 288pp., paperback, $39.99 Richard Muller's latest book, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition , is the product of many decades of research and analysis regarding...

Non-Christians and Christians alike often give the same answer to difficult questions like these: Why did God allow sin in the first place? Why does God save some people and not others? Why does God send people to hell? Why can living like a Christian be so frustrating? The immediate solution often...

Non-Christians and Christians alike often give the same answer to difficult questions like these: Why did God allow sin in the first place? Why does God save some people and not others? Why does God send people to hell? Why can living like a Christian be so frustrating? The immediate solution often...