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Perhaps the greatest irony of our present age is the absolute moralism of a culture which rails against institutionalized morality. “Don’t force your morality on me” is often uttered in complete sincerity and without a hint of irony. Increasingly in our contemporary world, this commitment to the morality of moral relativism is becoming manifest in the church. One can often see in the language of these converts to the new morality of the West all the righteousness of the ragin

M. Todd Hall "Meaning" in a world without God Some years ago, I read an article about a monument erected on a public space in Florida, countering a Ten Commandments monument, celebrating “atheism.” It was billed as an expression of free speech, and I suppose it was. But thinking about it further stirred a question within me. Beyond the pettiness of it (framed within the context of “protecting atheist rights”), why would an atheist erect such a monument? If one truly rejects t

M. Todd Hall The author and his daughter YOLOing, ca. 2014 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousn

Keith D. Stanglin Read parts one, two, and three of this series. And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22 In this series of posts, I’ve suggested two institutions that, from a certain perspective, it seems God wanted for Israel, but he in fact didn’t want them. The king and the temple were ideas introduc

Keith D. Stanglin Read posts one, two, and four of this series. I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” 2 Samuel 7:6-7 In the original post in th

Keith D. Stanglin David and Saul, Ernst Josephson, 1878 Read parts one, three, and four of this series. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” 1 Samuel 8:7 In my previous post, I claimed that there are at least three things or institutions in Scripture that God didn’t really seem to desire in the first place. Yet, despite that original will,

Keith D. Stanglin Peter Lastman (1583–1633), "David Gives Uriah a Letter for Joab" Read parts two, three, and four of this series. Someone might object to the very premise of these posts: “Isn’t that a bit presumptuous? How do you know what God didn’t want?” It’s a fair point to raise and consider, so let me make a few preliminary observations. First of all, to state the obvious, it’s no more or less presumptuous to say what God doesn’t want than to say what God does want.

by Keith D. Stanglin Ivan Kramskoi, Christ in the Wilderness Over twenty years ago, a former Roman Catholic, who was new a member of the Church of Christ where I once served as a minister, expressed to me his appreciation for our church’s respect for Scripture and for the simplicity of the worship assembly. But I remember one Sunday, while speaking with him in the building’s foyer, he asked me about something that truly puzzled him. He wanted to know why we didn’t say the L

Visible Signs of Invisible Grace: Sacraments for the “Low Church” (Part 5) by Keith D. Stanglin See Parts One , Two , Three , and Four of this series. These posts are adapted from my essay, “Visible Signs of Invisible Grace: Sacraments for the ‘Low Church,’” in Distinguishing the Church: Explorations in Word, Sacrament, and Discipline , ed. Greg Peters and Matt Jenson (Eugene: Pickwick, 2019), 69–92. In my previous posts, I discussed the demotion of baptism and eucharist i

Visible Signs of Invisible Grace: Sacraments for the “Low Church” (Part 4) Keith D. Stanglin See Parts One , Two , Three , and five of this series. These posts are adapted from my essay, “Visible Signs of Invisible Grace: Sacraments for the ‘Low Church,’” in Distinguishing the Church: Explorations in Word, Sacrament, and Discipline , ed. Greg Peters and Matt Jenson (Eugene: Pickwick, 2019), 69-92. In my previous post , I discussed how the Lord’s Supper (eucharist) was demo

Visible Signs of Invisible Grace: Sacraments for the “Low Church” (Part 3) Keith D. Stanglin See parts one , two , four , and five of this series In my previous post , I provided a short history of the development of baptism throughout history, up through evangelicalism. EFFICACY OF EUCHARIST Its Marginalization in Evangelicalism 1. Merely symbolic (memorial) How exactly is Christ present with regard to the eucharistic elements? In the biblical account, Jesus simply says, “

Part 2, "Efficacy of Baptism" Keith D. Stanglin See parts one , three , four , and five of this series This series of posts is a slightly revised version of Keith Stanglin, "Visible Signs of Invisible Grace: Sacraments for the 'Low Church,'" in Distinguishing the Church: Explorations in Word, Sacrament, and Discipline , ed. Greg Peters and Matt Jenson (Eugene: Pickwick, 2019), 69-92. In my previous post , I described the traditional understanding of a sacrament: It is a vis

Keith D. Stanglin *See parts two , three , and four of this series INTRODUCTION In this series of blog posts that addresses evangelical sacramental theology, first I would like to summarize briefly the traditional beliefs and practices with regard to the two sacraments in Churches of Christ (including Christian Churches and Disciples of Christ, all of which I will sometimes refer to with the increasingly outmoded but handy term, “Restorationists”), pointing out the combinati

Keith D. Stanglin Jacob Arminius served for 15 years as Pastor at The Old Church in Amsterdam In my previous blog post , I raised the old theological and practical challenge of the assurance of salvation, an issue that was central to the Protestant reformers in general and to Jacob Arminius (1559–1609) in particular. He identified two opposite problems related to assurance. Previously, I discussed his treatment of the first problem—despair or hopelessness about salvation, w

Keith D. Stanglin * Part 2 of this post is available here . Assurance of salvation was a central and motivating concern of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther sought assurance in the sacrament of penance, but to no avail. He found it finally in his discovery of justification by grace alone through faith alone. This concern for assurance continued among the Reformed (Calvinists). To pick one example among many, notice the presence of assurance in the opening Question

M. Todd Hall Architectural beauty: Canterbury Cathedral In a day in which everything is political, and the political is incredibly polarized, it is vital that we develop a dialogue about ultimate things that goes beyond immediate and technical application. If we are to get out of this thing alive, we need to develop a long term discussion and a shared vision of human flourishing and responsibility that truly engages thought regarding the good, the beautiful, and the true. The

Keith D. Stanglin “Can Christianity overcome its dogmatism without losing its identity?” A former colleague of mine once posed this question to our mutual students. It is provocative; “dogma” has been a nasty word for a long time. And the assumption among many—including many Christians—is that dogmatism is something that must be overcome. Though never put in these exact words, the underlying concern or logic apparently runs something like this: “Dogmatism is obviously evil; i

by Todd Hall What’s in a name? Well, it turns out that the answer to that question is “a whole lot.” Names can be venerated and names can be tarnished. They can follow someone around, and they can come to symbolize character and personality. Names matter. I came across an interesting fact several years ago when thinking about this commandment: Adolf was a popular name in Germany prior to World War 2, with several notable rulers of Germany as well as Saints and others appear

By Ben Peterson, CCS Fellow The Center for Christian Studies is happy to congratulate Dr. Ben Peterson, CCS Fellow and guest editor of JCS II/2, "The Church and the Polis ," on the publication of his forthcoming book, Community, Character, and the Governance of the Social Commons: Sanctuaries of Order , set to be released in June of this year by Bloomsbury Academic. We are happy to share with our CCS community the preface to the book, included below! From the book descripti

Keith D. Stanglin In my previous post , I identified three truths about technology that are conveyed in many ancient stories. First, technology always comes with negative, often unintended consequences; every technology does or undoes something. Second, the people closest to the technology—its creators and purveyors—have the hardest time seeing or foreseeing those negative effects. Third, they and the technophiles in charge have incentive to ignore or suppress those negati