“Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.” Psalm 10:17–18   Stop Child Witch Accusations (SCWA) was formed in 2012 and is a coalition of predominantly Christian,…

Where Paul describes the qualities of a true apostle in contrast to the false teachers confronting the local church in 1 Cor 4:1-21, many of the reformers found valuable direction for those who sought to undertake faithful Christian ministry. In this way, Luther’s co-worker and successor as leader of the Lutheran movement, Phillip Melanchthon (1497-1560),…

I am grateful to Dennis Venema and Scot McKnight for their work in Adam and the Genome, and I am also thankful for the engagement provided by the scholars who have contributed to this symposium. This conversation is exactly the sort of forthright, well-informed, and charitable discussion that the church needs, and it is just…

Following the Reformation emphasis on justification by faith rather than human works, Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), like many other sixteenth-century Protestant exegetes, finds the parents of John the Baptist to be excellent exemplars of the Christian life. In this way, Zwingli finds in Luke’s portrait of Zechariah and Elizabeth archetypes of a virtuous life, commendable for…

Peter Berger, one of the premier sociologists and public intellectuals over the past fifty years, passed from this life on June 27th at the age of 88. For years I had hoped for the privilege to meet him, but that opportunity never developed. Thus, I offer this tribute not as a friend or even an acquaintance,…

Dennis and I were both honored and wary that the Creation Project would take on our book for a wider public discussion, honored because they chose our book and wary because it was a five-to-two ratio of reviews to responses and because we know that many in the evangelical community will agree with neither Dennis…

I am grateful that our book, Adam and the Genome, was selected by the Creation Project for this discussion. This is a timely issue for the church that affects both our witness to those outside our communities whom we long to reach with the gospel, and for those among us who have come to accept…

In the background of Huldrych Zwingli’s (1484-1531) reflection on 1 Kings 18:41-46 is the scholastic distinction between God’s absolute power (potentia absoluta), through which, restrained only by his nature and the law of noncontradiction, he can bring about all possibilities, and his ordained power (potentia ordinata), whereby God exercises his power according to the covenant…

In his exegesis of Genesis 2:7, Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531) demonstrates that for the reformers, there are few details in the Scriptures that cannot be drawn out for homiletical and devotional effect. Thus, to Zwingli, the God’s use of clay is not incidental, but rather, this particular material demonstrates the impurity and basic equality of all…

At the heart of the Christian faith is the idea that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. To be clear: this idea runs counter to human experience and is thoroughly “anti-scientific.” Over 100,000 years of human experience teaches that when people die, they remain dead. And this experience is borne out by centuries of…

Where the false teachers in Corinth took pride in their learning and eloquence, Paul makes clear that human wisdom and ability pale when compared to that of God. In commenting on 1 Cor 14:26, Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), the reformer of Zurich, recognizes in the first disciples a foil to those who claim that worldly approval…

In the age of genomes, new information is reshaping our understanding of life on Earth. This information cannot be ignored, and questions are rising in the Church. How much does evolution press on theology? Was Adam a real person from whom all mankind descends? In Adam and the Genome, the scientist Dennis Venema explains our…