Everyone knows that teenagers in highschool struggle with an intense desire to be part of the popular crowd. Yet, few realize that this doesn’t always end after graduation, it just looks different. As an introvert, I am always instinctively observing the people around me, and sometimes this can take a prideful turn. Have you ever been talking to someone at church and suddenly get a sneaking feeling of superiority as you realize you are the more impressive person in terms of style, speech, or interests? Do you notice when the cool people walk in on Sunday morning and try to get their attention?
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How Did Spurgeon Fence the Lord's Table?
The sermon is over. The lights dim. As music begins to play, the pastor issues an invitation, “The tables are now open. No matter who you are or where you’ve come from, if you’ve responded to Jesus, then you can come. As the band plays our last song, feel free to make your way up to one of the tables. This is between you and Jesus.” Here in the 21st century, this has become a standard part of evangelical liturgy – an individualized view of the Lord’s Supper, with minimal accountability.
This practice can be traced back to a debate which began in the 17th century and reached a turning point in the 19th century.
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A Tale of Two Associations
Baptist churches have always understood that though every local church is complete in itself, each church may pursue voluntary associations in order to promote their health and the work of the gospel. But with cooperation comes new challenges. How big can an association get? How broad or narrow should doctrinal standards be? How do you balance denominational influence with congregational authority?
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Bernard of Clairvaux and His Song of Songs Sermon Series: An Introduction to the First 20
“And now that we have passed through the shadow-land of allegories, it is time to explore the great plains of mortal truths. Our faith has been strengthened, let our lives reveal its influence; our intellects have been enlightened, let them prescribe the right behavior. For they have sound sense who do this, if they direct their actions and understanding toward the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever.”
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HistoricalTheology.org Version 2.0
Welcome to our newly redesigned HistoricalTheology.org! Since our launch in 2017, we’ve enjoyed sharing these riches from church history through our blog. Who knew that Puritan women could encourage us in our Bible reading? Or that early church sermons could be so edifying? Or that Charlemagne had something to teach us about grief? Or that Karl Barth loved kids’ music? Or that Charles Spurgeon could get so worked up about church membership?
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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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The Mill Yard Women and the Counter-Cultural Witness of the Church
The church has always been a counter-cultural witness to the world. We normally think of the church’s witness in her preaching and good works, and rightly so. But sometimes, it’s her very structure and polity which bear witness to God’s kingdom here in this world.
We see this in the story of the Mill Yard Seventh Day Baptist Church in the 19th century. Founded in the 1600s this church had dwindled just to seven women by the 1820s, and they were without a minister.
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Girls, Body Image, and Theological Poetry: Lucy Hutchinson on the Beauty of the Human Body
Sometimes in an attempt to counter messages about self-esteem and body-shaming that ignore God we forget to acknowledge the beauty and goodness of the human body altogether. This kind of accidental Gnosticism can be especially harming for teenage girls who are constantly thinking about their bodies but are only taught two responses: one that makes them obsess even more about beauty by telling them to find meaning in themselves, and the other that makes them feel silly or sinful for struggling with body image in the first place but with no way to move forward other than trying to ignore their bad feelings and hope they go away.
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Henry Vaughan, an Old Man, and the Peace of Faithfulness
If our search for God is unsettled, there is a cure. As we watch biblical figures faithfully await the premiere advent, we learn how to better find our own peace in our faithful anticipation of the sequel. As Matthew 25:6 says: “at midnight there was a cry,” someone will shout ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’”
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Take up your [Sword] Daily: Beliefs about Salvation During the Spanish Reconquista
Even among the strangest medieval twistings of theology, it is sometimes possible to see the faintly flickering elements of the Gospel. While many sought to adapt the Scripture to fit their needs, a few found in its pages the hope and mission of Christ to make disciples of all nations.
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Lucy Hutchinson’s Theological Reflections on Motherhood
Years ago I worked as a full-time nanny for newborn twins during the first year of their lives. When I think back to this time, I remember being so tired and stressed and alone—not just because taking care of twins can be hard, but also because my anxiety and depression were starting to get worse at this time—and I wonder how much it would have helped to read quality resources on nurturing children. I’m not a mother myself, but so much of what I see seems too cliché to do justice to the deep and complex emotions and decisions involved in motherhood.
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Spurgeon’s Church Planting Strategy
Charles Spurgeon lived during a time of theological upheaval. A new theology had come over from Germany which disguised itself as Christianity, and yet was “no more Christianity than chalk is cheese.” For in it, “the Atonement is scouted, the inspiration of Scripture is derided, the Holy Spirit is degraded into an influence, the punishment of sin is turned into fiction, and the resurrection into a myth.” Spurgeon would give himself to fighting this new theology in the best way he knew how: planting vibrant, gospel-preaching churches.
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The Unoriginal Oden
Theologian Thomas Oden (1931-2016) was adamant that he brought nothing new to the table. His goal was to be unoriginal. While that vision may not capture the attention of Silicon Valley or your local trendy university town, Oden believed his approach was precisely what a generation of Christians needed who had lost any anchoring in the 2,000-year tradition that preceded them. Oden was convinced that modern Christians lagged behind their forebears in the ability to read and interpret Scripture and to immerse themselves in a deep understanding of God’s revealed word. In terms of theological reflection and understanding, Oden was always “trying hard to catch up with the fourth century.”
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Encouragement for Bible Reading from Puritan Women
“So how can we know what the Bible really says?” my classmate timidly asked at the end of a long lecture about interpretation. She was not playing the devil’s advocate, but was clearly discouraged by the fact that there seem to be many different and discordant ways of interpreting the Bible. Sometimes reading intense scholarly debates that dissect every tiny part of a passage, listening to sermons that use methods we don’t know how to use, or overhearing a friend joke about misapplying passages like Jeremiah 29:11 make us shrink back from Scripture.
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“Because We Need Him:” Historical Sermon Illustrations from Matthew 9:12
“But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” – Matthew 9:12 (NASB)
“I try to be as good as I can”
From Charles H. Spurgeon’s “The Great Physician and His Patients,” 1865
Read MoreA minister, when he had done preaching in a country village, said to a farm-labourer who had been listening to him, “Do you think Jesus Christ died to save good people, or bad people?” “Well, sir,” said the man, “I should say he died to save good people.” “But did he die to save bad people?” “No, sir; no, certainly not, sir.” “Well, then, what will become of you and me?” “Well, sir, I do not know. I dare say you be pretty good, sir; and I try to be as good as I can.”
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.
Read MoreThe Martyr’s Cause: John Foxe and Our Gospel Embassy
On Easter 1555, the zealous English evangelical[I] William Flower burst into a rage in St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, when he noticed a priest administering the Mass – a rite that Flower saw as the epitome of Roman Catholic idolatry. Immediately, he struck the offending priest with his woodknife, cutting him on the head, arm and hand. Blood from the priest’s wounds, according to the martyrologist John Foxe,[ii] sprinkled onto the consecrated host of the sacrament, which the priest was carrying in a chalice. Immediately, Flower was arrested and, after his trial, was burned at the stake as a heretic.
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“Love One Another”: Bunyan on Christian Behaviour in the Home, Workplace, and Community
In 1663 when Bunyan was cooped up in prison and expecting to be executed, he wrote a little conduct manual called Christian Behaviour. Though Bunyan’s fear of execution was based on a misunderstanding of the law, it was not unreasonable for him to be concerned for his well-being because the conditions in prison were horrible. If you were in the same situation, what would you write about?
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The Puritans for Today
This summer I had the privilege of taking Dr. Tom Schwanda’s class on Puritan Spirituality at Regent College. What struck me most about Dr. Schwanda was that it was obvious he really believed and practiced what he taught. Just like I’d never trust a hairdresser with bad hair and always pass by the makeup artists in the Bay with weird makeup, so am I suspicious of those who have a lot to say about the Christian life but don’t really seem like they’re striving to do it.
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"Dear Friend"
In 1999, theologian and evangelical statesman Carl F. H. Henry contributed a brief essay to Lessons in Leadership: Fifty Respected Evangelical Leaders Share Their Wisdom on Ministry. It is Henry at his best: warm, insightful, taking his gospel seriously and himself lightly. Young people in general and young ministers in particular will find it to be a helpful and penetrating essay. Further, as it was written when Henry was 86 years old (four years before his death), it also provides a remarkable reflection upon a life well lived for the evangel and for evangelicalism.
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