"We are persuaded that there is no other guide and leader to the Father than the Holy Spirit, just as there is no other way than Christ; and that there is no grace from God save the Holy Spirit.  Grace is itself the power and action of the Spirit: through grace God the Father, in the Son, accomplis...

As I mentioned several posts ago, this semester I was introduced to Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar in my reading of contemporary theology of the Trinity. Balthasar was a creative thinker, an engaging writer, and a brilliant theologian. Though Balthasar's training was in literature rather...

"Genuine love between persons is probably less common than one thinks, although most people think they have had some share in it and that they really possess it for brief moments. But it may well be as rare as great works of art, which tower here and there above the mass of what masquerades as art. ...

To submerge the self mystically in the dying torments of the crucified Jesus would mean giving these torments eternal validity if the submergence were not bound up with a hidden, inner, joyful exaltation over the risen and transfigured Christ.  A theology of the cross without the resurrection is he...

It was B. B. Warfield who first dubbed John Calvin, “the theologian of the Holy Spirit.â€� [1]   Since no Calvin scholar disputes the enormous role the Spirit plays in Calvin’s theology, it is, in the words of I. John Hesselink, a “conundrum that so little has been written concerning Calvinâ...

For all seek their own interests, and not those of Jesus Christ. -- Philippians 2:21 "It is impossible that the man who is devoted to self, should apply himself to the interests of the Church . . . For you must give up your own right if you would discharge your duty: a regard to your own interests m...

I haven't updated the blog recently so I thought that I would drop a line to let everyone know why I have been dark for the last 2 months. I am abnormally busy this summer. I am working between 20-30 hrs a week at Starbucks, I am taking 8 credits of class this summer, I am working 30+ hrs a week as ...

This album has been a blessing recently. Below I've supplied the lyrics to one of my favorite songs along with a favorite selection from the Institutes that help to focus my thoughts on Sunday mornings. " . . . By a kind of mutual bond the Lord has joined together the certainty of his Word and of hi...

I've posted very infrequently in recent months due to the many responsibilities besides school that I have had to take on. Life has been very busy here in the Baylor house-hold as both Julie and I work on our Master's degrees, hold down jobs, and get further involved in our church. The Spring semest...

Christ was not a lobbyist -- but you would never know it by the way in which many Christians are furiously endorsing or denouncing a given political candidate. Elections in America are always spiritually hazardous times. As Christians seek to wisely discharge their responsibility to vote, there is a...