Archive for February 2021
Recent Contributions to Credo Magazine
Over the past several weeks, Credo Magazine has featured insightful contributions from world renowned scholars. Recently, we have focused on four series, each designed to help connect the academy and the local church and to engage important topics in an accessible manner. Such topics include the trinity, the historic creeds and confessions of the church,…
Read MoreThe Belgic Confession
Philip Schaff, the venerable historian of the church and her confessions, once observed that the Belgic Confession is “upon the whole, the best symbolical statement of the Calvinistic system of doctrine, with the exception of the Westminster Confession.” This Confession is known most commonly as the “Belgic” confession because it emerged from the French-speaking Reformed…
Read MoreWhy No One Understands the Reformation Confessions Anymore
Protestantism has been in crisis mode since the early nineteenth century. The effects of the Enlightenment began to affect Protestant theology in the eighteenth century, but after Kant knowledge of God became increasingly problematic and Christianity in general began to pall as a result of the philosophical naturalism that settled over Western culture like a…
Read More10 Weeks on the Trinity: Simply Trinity
The Bible makes it very clear – God is one. This statement not only testifies to God’s superiority over all creation (there is only one God), but also refers to God’s simplicity. God is not composed of parts. Rather, God is one, and all that is in God, is God. But how can God be…
Read MoreDivine Evangelism: The Bible as God’s Proclamation of the Gospel
In my opinion, there are two doctrines—that if understood properly—can revolutionize the Christian’s motivation for and practice of evangelism: inspiration and illumination. Two “quick” definitions seem to be in order, then. Inspiration is that miraculous, mysterious, and supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to guide holy men—writing from their own personalities and contexts—to produce God’s…
Read MoreThe Chalcedonian Definition
The first thing one should notice from the title of this post is that the document produced at the Council of Chalcedon in October 451 was not a “creed”; it was a “definition.” A creed, properly speaking, is not a statement of what Christians believe about our faith. (That would be a “confession.”) Instead, a…
Read MoreAnselm: Faith, Reason, and the Fullness of Joy
Who was Anselm of Canterbury? Those who have never read Anselm often caricature the medieval theologian as an esoteric logic chopper. A careful read of Anselm, however, reveals a different story. Anselm’s “perfect being” theology was not only the apologetic grounds of his ontological argument, but an entryway into his affirmation of both faith and…
Read MoreNew Credo Podcast – Anselm: Faith, Reason, and the Fullness of Joy.
Who was Anselm of Canterbury? Those who have never read Anselm often caricature the medieval theologian as an esoteric logic chopper. A careful read of Anselm, however, reveals a different story. Anselm’s “perfect being” theology was not only the apologetic grounds of his ontological argument, but an entryway into his affirmation of both faith and…
Read More10 Weeks on the Trinity: More Than A Riddle
Matthew Barrett believes that we have conflated who the triune God is in and of himself with how he acts in salvation history. In his fourth lecture in the new Trinity Course through the FTC institute, Barrett distinguishes between processions and missions, between imminent and economic Trinity. While the temporal missions of the Trinity manifested…
Read More“The Profession of Truth”: The Purpose of Creeds in the 1677 Baptist Confession, Part II
In 1677, Particular Baptist churches in England and Wales came together to approve a new confession. Amid all the pressing needs and challenges of their day, Baptists found unity and strength for their mission in their creed. A second edition would be published in 1688, and today, this confession is widely known as the Second…
Read MoreHow To Begin Reading Philosophy
Since I am constantly urging theologians and biblical interpreters to read philosophy, I frequently get asked what to read in philosophy by those who feel a need to know more about philosophy. There are no shortcuts. If you started an M.Div. without the equivalent of a minor in philosophy, you were at a disadvantage from…
Read MoreNew Credo Video: What Opposing Worldview is the Most Pressing for Christianity Today?
Which opposing worldview is the most pressing for the Church today? How can Christians think carefully about different perceptions of reality and respond well when met with opposition? How do rational and intellectual movements differ from moral or emotional movements? Philosopher, apologist, and seminary president Jamie Dew helps listeners think through these difficult questions. Rather…
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