Latest from Keith Mathison
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Doctrine of the Church: Recommended Reading
from Keith Mathison Oct 12, 2010 Category: Articles
In the Nicene Creed, orthodox believers confess their belief in "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church." And as Calvin said, echoing the church fathers, the church is the "mother of all the godly." In our day, the church has sometimes been seen as something optional, something irrelevant. The church, however, is the bride of Christ, and we must begin again to view the church in the way Christ viewed her, in the way Scripture views her. Keep Reading -
From Paradise to the Promised Land
from Keith Mathison Oct 08, 2010 Category: Book Reviews
The five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) are foundational books of the canon. Without at least some understanding of the teaching of these books, it is next to impossible to understand fully the remaining books of the Bible. Keep Reading -
Doctrine of Salvation: Recommended Reading
from Keith Mathison Oct 05, 2010 Category: Articles
When Paul and Silas were thrown into jail in Philippi, the jailer asked them: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul and Silas answered: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:30-31). Our Father sent His only begotten Son into the world to save us sinners (John 3:17). This precious truth is something we must understand clearly. In systematic theology, the study of the doctrine of salvation is termed "soteriology." Keep Reading -
With Heart and Mouth
from Keith Mathison Sep 30, 2010 Category: Book Reviews
Dr. R. Scott Clark of Westminster Theological Seminary in California recently published a book titled Recovering the Reformed Confession (P&R, 2008), a call for Reformed believers to recapture a truly confessional theology, piety, and practice. Whether or not his call will be heeded remains to be seen, but one thing that would go a long way toward reaching this goal would be for Reformed believers to become reacquainted with what their confessions teach. Keep Reading -
Doctrine of the Holy Spirit: Recommended Reading
from Keith Mathison Sep 27, 2010 Category: Articles
In the Upper Room, Jesus told His disciples that it would be to their advantage that He go away, "for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you" (Jn. 16:7). In systematic theology, the study of the Holy Spirit is termed "pneumatology." Keep Reading -
God’s Undertaker
from Keith Mathison Sep 16, 2010 Category: Book Reviews
One of the most common ways of looking at the relationship between science and faith is the conflict thesis, which posits an inherent conflict between science and religion. The conflict thesis was popularized in the nineteenth century by John William Draper and by Andrew Dickson White. Despite the acknowledged poor scholarship underlying these works, the conflict thesis has persisted among both believers and unbelievers. Today, some scientists, including Peter Atkins, Daniel Dennett, and Richard Dawkins, are asserting that there should no longer be any conflict because science has shown us either that God does not exist or that God almost certainly does not exist. Keep Reading -
In Christ Alone
from Keith Mathison Sep 08, 2010 Category: Book Reviews
One of the first Reformed authors I ever read was Sinclair Ferguson. I was a dispensationalist in transition at the time, and I ran across a little book titled The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction by Dr. Ferguson. I started reading it in the bookstore, and I finished it in my apartment the same evening. This wonderful little book was instrumental in my transition from dispensationalism to the Reformed tradition. Keep Reading -
Augustine of Hippo
from Keith Mathison Aug 31, 2010 Category: Book Reviews
St. Augustine was born in A.D. 354 in the town of Thagaste in North Africa to a pagan father and a Christian mother. From these inauspicious beginnings, he would eventually become one of the most influential thinkers in the history of the Church and Western civilization. The ramifications of his debates with the Donatists and the Pelagians are still felt to this day in the Church. His Confessions remains a spiritual classic among Christians of widely varying traditions. His magnum opus, The City of God laid down the political and religious foundations for the following 1000 years of medieval history. Those involved in serious theological debate continue to appeal to the writings of Augustine for support. Keep Reading -
Martin Bucer: A Reformer and His Times
from Keith Mathison Aug 24, 2010 Category: Articles
Writing in 1539, John Calvin described Martin Bucer as a man “who on account of his profound scholarship, his bounteous knowledge about a wide range of subjects, his keen mind, his wide reading, and many other different virtues, remains unsurpassed today by anyone, can be compared with only a few, and excels the vast majority.” Calvin wrote these words during his three year stay in Strasbourg (1538–1541), where Bucer was a prominent Reformer. After his arrival in the city, Calvin lived for a time in Bucer’s house before moving into a house with a back yard that abutted Bucer’s back yard. During this time the two Reformers became close, and Bucer greatly influenced his younger colleague. Yet in spite of the close connection between Bucer and Calvin, Bucer remains something of an unknown for many Reformed Christians, relegated to the role of a secondary Reformer. Keep Reading -
Through Western Eyes
from Keith Mathison Aug 19, 2010 Category: Articles
According to estimates provided by Robert Letham, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 million Eastern Orthodox believers in the world today. Until recently, Protestants in the West had little contact with the Eastern Church and, as a consequence, little knowledge about it. That is no longer the case. Immigration of people from the East into Western countries, continued urbanization, and internet communication have made this church much more visible to a larger number of people. Keep Reading
