Category: The Gospel Coalition

The Gospel Coalition

Blog can be found on:

http://theologica.blogspot.com/

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By micoots
25/08/2016 0

When My Parents Left Me at Hardee’s

When my parents drove me to college, they left me at Hardee’s. For three hours. And I was the only other person in the car.

The morning I left for Baylor University, I was incredibly sad. After saying goodbye to my two younger brothers, my cat, and my best friend who’d spent the night, Mom, Dad, and I climbed into the minivan to make the 12-hour drive from Pensacola, Florida, to Waco, Texas. I was leaving everything familiar and venturing into the unknown—college, dorm life, strangers, and Tex..

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By micoots
24/08/2016 0

Our Faith Is Historically Verifiable—Or It’s Nothing

Doveryai, no proveryai is a Russian proverb that’s probably more famous in translation than in its original language. “Trust, but verify” was used extensively in various international negotiation settings, and continues to be trotted out as needed. It’s not a bad idea. Trust is good; proof that your trust isn’t unfounded is even better.

Where does this proverb apply in the life of a people of faith? Some equate faith with the phrase “leap of faith,” or, as Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “F..

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By micoots
24/08/2016 0

Why You Need a Church (Not Just a Campus Ministry)

It’s August, which means that all across the country, thousands of incoming freshmen are waving goodbye to hometowns and leaving for college. This includes many Christians, for whom a move to a new city means a move away from the familiarity of their home church. For many, campus ministries will step in to naturally fill the void.

A campus ministry can be unmatched in helping students connect with other likeminded believers, especially in an ideologically hostile academic or social setting. A g..

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By micoots
23/08/2016 0

Growing Solid Churches on Africa’s Ivory Coast

On the western edge of Africa lies a country long known for civil war and elephant poaching. Referred to by early explorers as the Côte d'Ivoire, or Ivory Coast, the land proved bountiful in natural resources. But the country has been hindered by political unrest and remains in a perpetual state of poverty and instability.

Yet Christianity is growing here, especially in the north.

Foreign missionaries began arriving in Ivory Coast as early as the 17th century, and the fruit of their work ..

By micoots
23/08/2016 0

Keller, Moore, DeYoung on How to Speak to Our Culture About Sex

It’s no secret Western culture is shifting fast, particularly in the realm of sexual ethics. What was unfathomable just 30 years ago is normal today.

How should Christians engage our neighbors who think differently? How can pastors equip Christians to talk about these things in a way that’s loving, winsome, and compelling?

In a new roundtable video, Tim Keller (TGC vice president, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, and author of Center Church), Russell Moore (president of the..

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By micoots
22/08/2016 0

Analyzing Power and Privilege in ‘Ben-Hur’

2016 has been a big year for Jesus on screen. There was Risen and The Young Messiah in the months leading up to Easter. Then there was the Ewan McGregor-as-Jesus art film, Last Days in the Desert (read my TGC review). The Coen brothers even made a Jesus film of sorts with Hail, Caesar! which is in part a send-up of the 1959 Ben-Hur epic.

And now we have a new version of Ben-Hur, a film that’s about Jesus while not exactly starring him.

The full title of the 1880 novel on which the film is bas..

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By micoots
22/08/2016 0

Why Jonathan Edwards Saw Economic Justice As a Gospel Concern

Jonathan Edwards made economic justice a vital concern in his pastoral ministry, because he saw it as necessary to the proclamation of the gospel of salvation in Christ. Historical memory tends to neglect this aspect of his story. But at critical moments in Edwards’s pastoral career, concerns about economic justice played a pivotal role in his ministry—motivated by his desire for faithful and fruitful proclamation of the gospel.

Today, even those who affirm the need for both gospel proclamation..

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By micoots
22/08/2016 0

Not Two Kingdoms, But Two Ages

For centuries Christians have considered different ways of relating the church and the world, particularly with respect to the God-established authorities in each domain. Well-known proposals include Augustine’s “two cities,” Gelasius’s “two swords,” Luther’s “two kingdoms,” and Kuyper’s ideas about sphere sovereignty, which operate inside of what might be called a “one-kingdom” framework.

I would like to offer an alternative that learns from each of these, but that also draws on the last half-..

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By micoots
21/08/2016 0

Danger to California’s Christian Colleges Has Been Avoided—For Now

The Story: A direct threat to Christian colleges and universities in California has been stopped—for now.

The Background: In June a California state senator proposed legislation that threatened to strip some private colleges and universities of an exemption that protects them from lawsuits and allows them to function as faith-based organizations. The law would have removed an exemption that allowed religious-based colleges from making distinctions based on religion or sexual orientation.

Losin..

CaliforniaCapital_350_202_90
By micoots
20/08/2016 0

Danger to California’s Christian Colleges Has Been Avoided — For Now

The Story: A direct threat to Christian colleges and universities in California has been stopped — for now.

The Background: In June a California state senator proposed legislation that threatened to strip some private colleges and universities of an exemption that protects them from lawsuits and allows them to function as faith-based organizations. The law would have removed an exemption which allowed religious-based colleges from making distinctions based on religion or sexual orientation.

Lo..