Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.
Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.

All Articles

"Are you Republican or Democrat?” “Liberal or conservative?” “Yankees or Red Sox?” “Star Wars or Star Trek?”
Ultimately, however, we find in the Heidelberg Disputation the root and core of Luther’s theology, which he would build and expound upon throughout his life.
This short series has attempted to show that many, if not all, of the attempts that have been made to reveal or identify tensions or error in Melanchthon’s theology.
In 1534, Melanchthon was invited to France to defend the Lutheran position to King Francis, who seemed to favor the Reformation.
Henry found Melanchthon to be a more moderate voice and was eager to discuss theological matters with the young, increasingly famous and respected academic.
Throughout his life, Melanchthon was embroiled in quite a few internal as well as external controversies.
At the same time, in the late 1520s and early 1530s, Melanchthon’s theology became utterly reliant on the idea that justification is a purely forensic act whereby the unjust sinner is declared just on account of Christ (propter Christum).
Prior to the diet, the outlook for the new evangelical protestors was far from hopeful.
Beginning in 1519, Melanchthon began to develop his theology.
The work in question was entitled the Loci Communes Theologici, or Common Topics of Theology.
The two men, early colleagues and reluctant friends, would become a nearly unstoppable theological and Reformation team.
The common knock against “grace people” (or to put it another way, “Christians”) is that preaching too much grace will encourage licentious living.