Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Bible and Theology

October 01, 2008

Bible Across America

To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the New International Version (NIV), “the best-selling translation with more than 300 million copies in print,” Grand Rapids-based publisher Zondervan is launching a nationwide RV tour, “Bible Across America.” Continue Reading...
September 29, 2008

Personal responsibility and self-possession

There is an old expression, “Talk is cheap.” Coupled with another old expression, “Actions speak louder than words,” we are introduced to a profound philosophical insight brought by Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) in his The Acting Person. Continue Reading...
September 08, 2008

Salon.com and Augustine on kids

There’s a pretty entertaining piece on Salon.com by Christopher Noxon, “Is my kid a jerk, or is he just 2?” There’s mild language, but the gist of the piece revolves around this observation: As much as it goes against the current mode of progressive, project-management-style parenting, I take it for granted that some kids are trouble right out of the gate. Continue Reading...
July 25, 2008

Swinburne on God and morality

Last week I attended a lecture on the campus of Calvin College given by Richard Swinburne, Emeritus Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion, University of Oxford. His lecture was titled, “God and Morality,” and was the fourth in a series of lectures for a summer seminar, “Science, Philosophy, and Belief.” Continue Reading...
July 02, 2008

The Christian socialist revolution

“[Christian Socialist Movement] is a movement of Christians with a radical commitment to social justice, to protecting the environment and to fostering peace and reconciliation. We believe that ‘loving our neighbour’ in the fullest sense involves struggling for a fair and just society, one in which all can enjoy the ‘fullness of life’ Jesus came to announce. Continue Reading...
May 30, 2008

Intellectual foundations of evangelicalism

In an interview promoting his recent book Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, D. Michael Lindsay, describes what he sees to be the intellectual sources of evangelicalism: And the interesting thing is that the Presbyterian tradition, the Reformed tradition, has provided some of the intellectual gravitas for evangelical ascendancy. Continue Reading...
May 06, 2008

Persecution as a mark of the church

Last Friday the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its 2008 report, noting eleven nations as “countries of particular concern,” being “those that are are most restrictive of religious freedom”: Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Continue Reading...
April 23, 2008

Toward a theological ethic for internet discourse

The relationship of the Christian church and the broader culture has been a perennial question whose genesis antedates the life of the early Church. In his Apology, the church father Tertullian defended Christians as citizens of the Roman empire in the truest and best sense. Continue Reading...
April 22, 2008

Bullinger on democracy

A statement of the reformer Heinrich Bullinger, an influential second-generation leader in Zurich, on his preferred form of government: God had established through Moses in His law the most excellent, the most admirable and convenient form of republic, depending on the wisest, most powerful and most merciful king of all, God, on the best and fairest senators and not at all on extravagant and arrogant ones, and finally on the people; to which He added the judge, whenever it was necessary. Continue Reading...