Paul’s Library at Troas

The last letter that the apostle Paul wrote was likely Second Timothy, and on the last page of the current issue of Touchstone magazine there is a thoughtful column about it (Patrick Henry Reardon, “As It Is Written …:  The Library Left Behind,” Touchstone, July/August 2024, at 56; here’s the link).  The column focuses, in … [Read more…]

Cross-Post re Pascal’s Wager

I recently posted this on National Review Online‘s “The Corner”: I very much enjoyed Kayla Bartsch’s Corner post on Friday (“Sociology Comes for Sundays”) and would like to add a bit to it. It is certainly true that “religious practice” can have a variety of secular benefits, even if one lacks solid faith, and that noting … [Read more…]

Why Would God Insist That We Love Jesus?

Premise:  Christians believe that God wants us to love one another and, even prior to that, to love Him; salvation also requires that we accept Jesus Christ as divine.  See, e.g., John 3:16-18 and 14:6. Now, it is commonly argued that it seems very unfair that someone who leads a good life, full of selfless … [Read more…]

William Lane Craig, “The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom” and William Hasker, “God, Time, and Knowledge”

These two books were cited in one of the extensive (and valuable) endnotes in the excellent Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald T. Tacelli.  Since the two were mentioned together and cover similar subject matter, but with each taking — as Kreeft and Tacelli put it — “a very different view,” I thought … [Read more…]

Douglas Bond, “The Mighty Weakness of John Knox”

John Knox (c. 1514-1572) was a Scottish minister and Reformed theologian, who was a leader in his country’s Reformation and, indeed, the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.  This book is one of the “Long Line of Godly Men Profile” series, other titles of which I’ve also reviewed on this blogsite.  The idea of … [Read more…]

More Thoughts on Exodus

Our church recently concluded its sermon series (also noted here on this blogsite) on the book of Exodus, so herewith are some thoughts. First, when you think about it, while of course Genesis discusses the origins of Judaism with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Exodus is the first book about the Jews as a … [Read more…]

Insight and Evangelism

There are of course many valuable truths and insights that are not found in the Bible.  There’s not a word in it, for example, about the Pythagorean Theorem.  And the fact that the Bible contains many valuable truths and insights is not proof that it is Scripture.  Poor Richard’s Almanac is not Scripture, for example. … [Read more…]