There are so many reasons for people to celebrate the Reformation, and every year at this time I try to point out some facet of the impact of this great event. This year I am pleased to announce that the Ryan Center for Biblical Studies at Union University is planning REF500, a festival celebrating the …
This past Sunday many church celebrated Reformation Sunday as we near Reformation Day, Oct 31, the anniversary of the day Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Justin Wainscott, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jackson, TN, passionately explained the importance of the Reformation in terms of …
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My poem of the week this week, is this bold hymn by Johann Michael Altenberg, 17th century German pastor. He wrote this hymn during the turbulent times of war which followed the Reformation, and they seem pertinent today. Be Not Dismayed, Thou Little Flock Be not dismayed, thou little flock, Although the foe’s fierce battle …
Frederick the Wise: Seen and Unseen Lives of Martin Luther’s Protector, Sam Wellman (Concordia Publishing House, 2015), pb., 315 pp As soon as I began seeing announcements about this book I was excited to read it. From my engagement with Luther, Frederick the Wise had become a very intriguing character to me. I was …
I am currently working on a conference and a book on the broad impact of the Reformation. The conference is set for 2017 and the book is due out that year as well as we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The Reformation touched so many areas of life as we now know it. …
In his classic biography of Martin Luther, Here I Stand, Roland Bainton records Luther’s hymn, “In Devil’s Dungeon Chained I Lay.” What a beautiful, poetic proclamation of the gospel! How I need to be reminded that God “turned to me his father heart” and then to hear the Lord Jesus say, “Hold thou to me, …
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I have previously written on the pastoral impulse of the Reformation, the fact that this renewal of the church arose primarily from the earnest desire to care for souls, to see that they be taught the gospel and shown the way to peace with God and eternal life. This is a crucial point. Just recently …
A week ago we passed the 478th anniversary of the martyrdom of William Tyndale (Oct 6, 1536), strangled and burned for his work of translating the Bible into English and for teaching justification by faith. As we pass this significant anniversary, I commend to you a wonderful, moving lecture by Timothy George on the life …
Last week my article, “The Care of Souls: The Heart of the Reformation,” was published in the latest issue of Themelios. The article is my attempt to highlight the pastoral impulse behind this pivotal moment in history. Amidst the important theological and political issues which were involved in this historic movement and which continue to …
“Our Savior Christ … was a carpenter, and got his living with great labour. Therefore let no man disdain … to follow him in a common calling and occupation. For as he blessed our nature with taking upon him the shape of a man, so in his doing he blessed all occupations and arts.” …