John Gray—veteran British philosopher, intellectual historian, and book reviewer—has no intention of converting anybody. But his Seven Types of Atheism is a searching and helpful taxonomy of unbelief ancient and modern, and it has the potential to make the second of these two scenarios disappear altogether.   Imagine a conversation in which well-meaning skeptics try to deconvert... Continue Reading

“People in a victimhood culture are like the honorable in having a high sensitivity to slight. They’re quite touchy, and always vigilant for offenses. Insults are serious business, and even unintentional slights might provoke a severe conflict. But, as in a dignity culture, people generally eschew violent vengeance in favor of relying on some authority... Continue Reading

Believers who come humbly are still amazed by God’s grace, and that off-key singer becomes a delight to their ears. No amount of liturgical excellence or failure can add or subtract from the work of the cross. “It is finished,” is still Jesus’s effectual cry. The lengthy anecdote in the sermon without a real point... Continue Reading

It also exhibits Greg’s confusion. He claims, several times in the book, that his identity is in Christ, yet he keeps coming back to finding his identity in cultural labels. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the word “gay” appears 160 times in Greg’s book. The word “Christian” appears half that... Continue Reading

Stanley’s book is a triumph, above all for its highly innovative structure. Indeed, that structure alone is exceptionally valuable both to readers and as a model for educators seeking to frame the ever-expanding Christian story worldwide. Of course (we are relieved to learn) Stanley is not offering any kind of exhaustive and exhausting encyclopedia of... Continue Reading

“How often people say something like, ‘I think God is like this or that,’ without any consideration that they ought not to think anything about God unless He has first told them.  Wisdom reminds us, ‘A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion’ (Proverbs 18:2).”   I’m enjoying this book... Continue Reading

I remember in junior high school science class seeing Ernst Haeckel’s embryo drawings that supposedly prove common descent, and hearing that the Miller-Urey experiment showed how life could emerge from non-life. In Zombie Science: More Icons of Evolution, Jonathan Wells shows in this excerpt, courtesy of the Discovery Institute Press, that such propaganda worked on children... Continue Reading

Chosen by God by R. C. Sproul is the go-to book on the classical understanding of the doctrine of election. Sproul writes in a logical fashion, working through all that the doctrine entails, and building a solid biblical case for it. If you are familiar with Sproul’s preaching, you can hear his voice in the... Continue Reading

At the beginning of 2018 I suggested this would be one of the themes of the year and I continue to believe this will prove to be the case. My cause is helped by Tom Schreiner’s new defense of cessationism, Spiritual Gifts: What they Are and Why they Matter.   The movement called the New Calvinism has been... Continue Reading

Calvin said there is no place on earth I’d rather not be than Geneva, but he sensed God’s call on his life, and so he went back to Geneva. He ended up staying there, Geneva becoming his adopted city. He not only led the church there, but as one biographer of Calvin said, while he lived... Continue Reading