Augustine is often called the founder of the just war tradition. This is only partly true, and requires at least two caveats. First, Augustine did not write a treatise or essay on war or even on civil government: his comments on the state and its lethal violence are scattered throughout his sermons, letters, and other works, written over the course of decades.
Continue...Everyone has an interest in justice. Everyone would say they want justice and despise injustice. We learn about the complexity of justice as we age, but are born into the world with a spectacularly sensitive sense of justice.
Continue...Editor’s Note: This article is part of our primer series on Christians ethics where a respected leader and thinker recommends and gives a summary overview of a book that helps orient readers to a certain aspect of ethics and philosophy. This series is designed to equip the local church to engage foundational texts of Christian …
Continue...Editor’s Note: This article is part of our primer series on Christians ethics where a respected leader and thinker recommends and gives a summary overview of a book that helps orient readers to a certain aspect of ethics and philosophy. This series is designed to equip the local church to engage foundational texts of Christian …
Continue...In recent years, American culture has been racked with movements like #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and a bitter political division. What do all these issues have in common? Human dignity. Sexual abuse happens when men do not respect the dignity of women.
Continue...Religious freedom is among the most precious things in existence. At its core it is both a theological and political proposition. Theologically, to defend religious freedom is to recognize that every person is accountable to God as an individual. No one has the right to decide who or how another person worships. Politically, to defend religious freedom is to recognize that the state has no role in determining what a person holds as ultimate.
Continue...For much of history, Christians have understood the church and the state as two orders given as good gifts by God. Rightly relating the two is no easy task. Historically there are two temptations regarding the proper relation of the church to the state.
Continue...How does my faith in Jesus connect with my work life? How does Sunday relate to Monday? What difference does the gospel make when I’m stocking shelves, turning wrenches, or answering phones?
Continue...Over the years, I’ve been surprised by how often my life has been upended by little books. Augustine’s City of God influenced me, but the much smaller Confessions changed me. Carl Henry wrote six volumes of God, Revelation, and Authority—and I have referenced it often—but what altered my life was his tiny manifesto, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism.
Continue...Perhaps the moment was around a campfire. Maybe all that could be heard were the sounds of crickets in the woods around, along with the crackling of the flame and one voice talking. Jesus was telling his disciples of his impending arrest, and saying, it seemed irrationally, that they should not be troubled about what was to come. “In my Father’s house there are many rooms.” He said to them, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that were I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going” (John 14:3-4).
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