It was during my first year at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA, that I was spending a quiet Saturday afternoon in its library and discovered a book that attracted my attention. It dealt with missions to Muslims. The author was Dr. Samuel Zwemer; the tide, The Cross Above the Crescent. I had […]

Conscious of a “calling” to serve the Lord with our lives, it was understood from day one that we would be a team. We set out for Syria with that in mind; but it was five years before we settled down to our life’s work in Chicago of all places! If wives are to be […]

David Wells, a very distinguished Reformed theologian, has written a very important book—perhaps the most important Christian book of 1993. The book is entitled No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? The book flows out of Wells’ conviction that evangelicals in very large numbers no longer care about theology. For Wells this […]

The Synod of the Christian Reformed Church will meet for its annual session, beginning on June 14, with a prayer service for synod to be held the previous evening in the Westview CRC of Grand Rapids, Michigan. As usual, synod will meet on the campus of Calvin College. Delegates from 46 classes will attend—2 ministers […]

What’s happening in the CRC—is anyone aware? Or maybe, we’ve been lulled to sleep—does anyone care? Whatever the case, lack of concern, thought or feeling, It’s not only our church, but God’s Word, with which we are dealing.   So much controversy over what used to be so clear, About how we interpret the Bible, […]

Reading through the recently published Agenda for Synod 1994 of the Christian Reformed Church, I was once again struck, in perusing a communication from Classis Lake Erie, how prominent a role the idea of local option continues to play in the push for the ordination of women to all offices in the church. Though this […]

8. What does Oberman say Holtrop is up to? In his “Foreword” Oberman writes, “This study is at once courageous and significant. It is courageous because Philip Holtrop brings an ‘ugly Calvin’ out of the closet….” (p. xvii). (That was not among the credits Holtrop awards himself, but it is a, if not the, dominant […]

The last two articles in this monthly column have looked at the first two of the “marks of the true church” identified by John Calvin, with a view to inquiring into the elders’ responsibility to these commitments. In this article and a subsequent one (OK, I’m learning. I know I can’t do it in one), […]

As a devotional exercise for the month, reflect on each of the fifteen ideas listed for two days. Record your insights and share them with a friend! What Builds Love? A growing understanding of I Corinthians 13 and Ephesians 4 • An increasing understanding of the character of God • A growing realization of what […]

Students of the Protestant Reformation are acquainted with the story of Johann Tetzel, the German monk and seller of indulgences who provoked Luther’s ire and decision to affix his ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. They may even recall the infamous slogan by which Tetzel advertised his indulgences: “The […]