An Introduction to John Calvin’s Pastoral Theology: 7 Key Concepts
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Safeguard the Hope of Salvation: An Introduction to John Calvin's Pastoral Theology — Part 2
An Introduction to John Calvin’s Pastoral Theology: 7 Key Concepts
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Safeguard the Hope of Salvation: An Introduction to John Calvin's Pastoral Theology — Part 1
An Introduction to John Calvin’s Pastoral Theology: 7 Key Concepts
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Painting of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux by Vicente Berdusán Osorio.
5 Great Sermons from Church History - #3 Bernard of Clairvaux on Song of Solomon
This is the third installment of a five-part series called, "5 Great Sermons from Church History." See the first here and the second here. This is not meant to indicate that these are the greatest or the best sermons, or even the five most important in the history of the church. However, these sermons were selected based on historical significance, content, accessibility (both good translations and comprehensibility), and each as exemplary of the particular era in which it occurred.
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The Most Significant Book Christians Have Forgotten
As we prepare our reading lists for 2019, let us take this opportunity to remind ourselves of perhaps the most significant book that Christians—all the way from the casual reader to the master’s level seminary student—have almost completely forgotten.
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5 Great Sermons from Church History - #2 John Chrysostom's Easter Sermon
This is the second installment of a five-part series called, "5 Great Sermons from Church History." See the first here. This is not meant to indicate that these are the greatest or the best sermons, or even the five most important in the history of the church. However, these sermons were selected based on historical significance, content, accessibility (both good translations and comprehensibility), and each as exemplary of the particular era in which it occurred. Given the scope, the five sermons stretch over the entirety of church history. Extreme redaction is unavoidable with such a project. Each of the entries will take a similar approach, namely: Brief background on speaker and sermon, redacted block quote to capture the heart of sermon, and brief commentary on the whole sermon.
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5 Great Sermons from Church History - #1 Gregory the Theologian on the Grandeur of God
This is the first installment of a five-part series called, "5 Great Sermons from Church History." This is not meant to indicate that these are the greatest or the best sermons, or even the five most important in the history of the church. However, these sermons were selected based on historical significance, content, accessibility (both good translations and comprehensibility), and each as exemplary of the particular era in which it occurred. Given the scope, the five sermons stretch over the entirety of church history. Extreme redaction is unavoidable with such a project. Each of the entries will take a similar approach, namely: Brief background on speaker and sermon, redacted block quote to capture the heart of sermon, and brief commentary on the whole sermon.
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Patrick of Ireland: Prepared to Proclaim
The life of Patrick exemplifies what the Apostle Paul describes in 2 Corinthians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Cor 1:3-5, CSB). The Lord used the sufferings Patrick endured to draw him to faith in Christ, and it was these same sufferings that the Lord used to prepare Patrick to proclaim the glories of his grace.
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Lesslie Newbigin on the Mission of the Triune God
Lesslie Newbigin was a missionary, theologian, author, and pastor. He was an endearing man with a gregarious personality. Newbigin loved to tell jokes, “Did you hear the one about John Baillie and Karl Barth?” his friend Rev. Dan Beeby recalled. He also had an adventurous spirit. When Newbigin left the mission field, he made his return journey with wife Helen from Madurai to Bromely (through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey) toting only two suitcases and a rucksack, hitchhiking and bussing their way from south-central India to southeast London. One of Newbigin’s greatest contributions was his Trinitarian perspective on the mission of God.
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Jonathan Edwards on the Necessity of Good Preaching
For Jonathan Edwards, good preaching gets at the sin-hardened hearts of people, and works to soften these hearts to love God above all. Good preaching causes a holy zeal in people for the things of God. Good preaching penetrates the will of a person, so that the word of God permeates her volition. Good preaching enlivens the soul of a person, so that he is set to carry out the work of God in his body.
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John Calvin on God's Spirit and God's Word
The relationship between Word and Spirit is foundational for understanding Calvin’s theology. He maintained an inherent and necessary relationship between the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit to teach, illumine, and reveal the Word. Never in Calvin’s theology are the two pitted against one another, but rather Calvin consistently maintained a mutual dependence.
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