Christ & Culture

In the current political divide in the Unites States, one of the underlying narratives that divides the political left and right is the question of entrustment, or more specifically, to whom should the citizens of the country entrust themselves. The basic answer on the left side of the debate is...

Nikolaus Von Amsdorf – More than a Beer-Drinking Friend Nikolaus Von Amsdorf is usually remembered as one of the two friends (the other being Philip Melanchthon) who drank beer with Martin Luther while “God dealt the papacy a mighty blow.” [1] But there is much more to this man, his relationship to...

Clement Read Vaughan – a Faithful Friend Today, Clement Read Vaughan (1827-1911) is remembered only occasionally for his comparison of faith to a bridge – an illustration used by many pastors. Not much is known about his life – mostly what Thomas Cary Johnson (1859-1936) recorded in his biography...

My wife and I had the opportunity this summer of visiting Normandy, France. A highlight of our trip was a day spent touring a small section of the D-Day landing beaches as well as the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. It was a moving and somber experience as we reflected on the thousands of young...

Humans have been fascinated by themselves since the earliest times in the history of our race. From the crude stick figures painted on the walls of caves in prehistoric times through to the sophisticated image of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man , or the mathematical musings around the Fibonacci...

Isabella Graham – an 18 th -Century Problem-Solver “Who are these children, that idly ramble through the streets, a prey to growing depravity and vicious example?” Isabella Graham asked in 1804. By that time, she had already created a vast program of assistance to the needy, a program that included...

I heard a comment recently from one of the young men in our church that gave me pause for thought. He said, ‘I don’t think I have ever heard a sermon about assurance.’ My initial reaction was to frantically cast my mind back over the last 40 years trying to remember if I myself had ever addressed...

Anne Dutton and Her Reasons for Writing From the time of her youth in 17 th -century Northampton, England, Anne was described as a lively and outspoken girl. Over the course of her life, she combined this zeal and candor with her natural clarity of thought and expression in order to provide...

Too often the idea of ‘good works’ has been the Cinderella of Reformed discussion. Wanting (quite rightly) to distance ourselves from any kind of meritorious implications attached to them (which lies at the heart of the Roman Catholic view) we have perhaps over-corrected our stance to our own loss...

The opening chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is, for some, like watching paint dry on a wall! Genealogies are not everyone’s thing. But this genealogy ought to be. It’s obviously the genealogy of Jesus. Yet, not so obvious is the Davidic background of the genealogy. David alone is mentioned five times!...