I was involved in a wonderful conversation the other day with a few friends of mine, two Catholics (one of whom is a priest) and a Presbyterian (PCA). Over some good tobacco and coffee at the local cigar shop we discussed a variety of things, including Baptism. My friend, the Presbyterian, spoke about [...]

I want to thank Tim Troutman and the rest of the Called to Communion fellows for allowing me to put up a quick post about my new book: The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of Catholic Christianity now available on amazon.com.
The book begins with an event in which I encountered a Jewish Rabbi while [...]

The Christian mind can hardly think of a more familiar set of concepts (Kingdom, Church, Communion) which is at the same time so difficult to communicate precisely.  But the simpler idea, and the one we’re really aiming at, is ‘the people of God.’  Who are they?  How do I become one of them?  The term [...]

All mankind is of one author and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated. . . . As therefore the bell that rings a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon [...]

Covenant or Federal Theology became formally articulated in the Calvinistic theological tradition, beginning in the 17th century. This was the era of “Reformed Scholasticism”. Beginning especially with Theodore Beza, Aristotlian methods of theological speculation began to take root in Calvinist circles (whether they were conscious of it or not). As a result, Calvinism in the [...]