Posts by Carl Trueman

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A few items as the week ends. Todd Pruitt beat me to the punchline on the latest embarrassing antics from the world of reformed celebrity marketing and the Battle of the Brands. From the Driscoll debacle onwards, the role of money and branding in the reformed world has become too painfully obvious...
This week's Mortification of Spin podcast is up and this week, for a change, the team play it entirely straight. This is because the topic is very serious: how the church should address domestic and sexual abuse. The guest is Dr. Diane Langberg who has specialised in counseling abuse victims for...
This week's Mortification of Spin podcast is up and this week, for a change, the team play it entirely straight. This is because the topic is very serious: how the church should address domestic and sexual abuse. The guest is Dr. Diane Langberg who has specialised in counseling abuse victims for...
Regular readers ofRef21 will know that, in times of darkness, of deep personal hurt, of needing to be in that quiet place while I rest briefly from my journey, I often draw strength from reflecting on the wisdom of that greatest of English philosophers, Ray Davies. So, as we head into the weekend...
Regular readers ofRef21 will know that, in times of darkness, of deep personal hurt, of needing to be in that quiet place while I rest briefly from my journey, I often draw strength from reflecting on the wisdom of that greatest of English philosophers, Ray Davies. So, as we head into the weekend...
I do not usually respond to criticism but it has been so fast and furious this week, culminating in an accusation of slander from a famous pastor, that I feel a few brief words are in order. First, I should make it clear that I have nowhere slandered Tullian Tchividjian. Further, I was not the...
I do not usually respond to criticism but it has been so fast and furious this week, culminating in an accusation of slander from a famous pastor, that I feel a few brief words are in order. First, I should make it clear that I have nowhere slandered Tullian Tchividjian. Further, I was not the...
Before conspiracy theories spiral, here is another shot at my earlier post. As Big Calvinism plunges into recrimination and PR chaos, Jonathan Merritt offers some thoughts on the new Calvinist movement as a whole. The article is thought-provoking in many ways. One of the big problems with Big...
Before conspiracy theories spiral, here is another shot at my earlier post. As Big Calvinism plunges into recrimination and PR chaos, Jonathan Merritt offers some thoughts on the new Calvinist movement as a whole. The article is thought-provoking in many ways. One of the big problems with Big...
On this week's MoS , we are trying to do what we always do: preserving the old ways from being abused, protecting the new ways, for me and for you. That sort of thing. In this remarkable age, where emoting in public comes as standard, where all disagreement is taken personally and requires online...
On this week's MoS , we are trying to do what we always do: preserving the old ways from being abused, protecting the new ways, for me and for you. That sort of thing. In this remarkable age, where emoting in public comes as standard, where all disagreement is taken personally and requires online...
Given the furore surrounding the issue of sanctification, I want to take the debate out of the lecture theatre and the partisan point scoring by asking a pointedly practical question: How do you pastor people engaged in serious repeated sin? That is where our theology is truly tested and where the...
Given the furore surrounding the issue of sanctification, I want to take the debate out of the lecture theatre and the partisan point scoring by asking a pointedly practical question: How do you pastor people engaged in serious repeated sin? That is where our theology is truly tested and where the...
The latest MoS is now up. This week, the team interview attorney, Melanie Brunson, who is in the studio along with her delightful dog, Sparta. Melanie is also blind and thus we have the opportunity to talk about the church's attitude to disability and the things of which pastors and people should...
The latest MoS is now up. This week, the team interview attorney, Melanie Brunson, who is in the studio along with her delightful dog, Sparta. Melanie is also blind and thus we have the opportunity to talk about the church's attitude to disability and the things of which pastors and people should...
Over at the Gospel Coalition, one of their pre-eminentspeakers and bloggers, Tullian Tchividjian, has used his platform to indict modern preachers for false teaching on law and gospel. No specifics are given beyond his general claim thatlots of preachers and writers out there are committing that...
Over at the Gospel Coalition, one of their pre-eminentspeakers and bloggers, Tullian Tchividjian, has used his platform to indict modern preachers for false teaching on law and gospel. No specifics are given beyond his general claim thatlots of preachers and writers out there are committing that...
Some time ago, I wrote a short article entitled 'What Can Miserable Christians Sing?' Over subsequent years, I have had a lot of friendly correspondence as a result of that piece and it has been reprinted in numerous church newsletters and posted on various websites. Then, earlier this year...
Some time ago, I wrote a short article entitled 'What Can Miserable Christians Sing?' Over subsequent years, I have had a lot of friendly correspondence as a result of that piece and it has been reprinted in numerous church newsletters and posted on various websites. Then, earlier this year...
While I was away attempting to kick-start a solo career last week and, as you can see, enjoying the accolades of huge and unprecedented personal popularity, Nunchucks and the Scarecrow recorded a Bully Pulpit by themselves. In it, they address the matter of Fight Church , an interestingly mindless...
While I was away attempting to kick-start a solo career last week and, as you can see, enjoying the accolades of huge and unprecedented personal popularity, Nunchucks and the Scarecrow recorded a Bully Pulpit by themselves. In it, they address the matter of Fight Church , an interestingly mindless...
I offer some personal reflections, or rather, some pointed questions, about the future of Protestantism over at my other internet haunt, First Thoughts , the blog of the Institute on Religion and Public Life . For any who have never read it, the Institute's flagship magazine, First Things , has to...
I offer some personal reflections, or rather, some pointed questions, about the future of Protestantism over at my other internet haunt, First Thoughts , the blog of the Institute on Religion and Public Life . For any who have never read it, the Institute's flagship magazine, First Things , has to...
Last week's discussion at Biola with Peter Leithart and Fred Sanders left me with much to reflect upon, not least the cognitive dissonance between Peter Escalante's now legendary mustache (which appeared at first glance to indicate sympathies with the Bonzo Dog Band) and his (indeed our shared)...
Last week's discussion at Biola with Peter Leithart and Fred Sanders left me with much to reflect upon, not least the cognitive dissonance between Peter Escalante's now legendary mustache (which appeared at first glance to indicate sympathies with the Bonzo Dog Band) and his (indeed our shared)...
Pressure of time means that I will not be able to respond to Peter Leithart's and Fred Sanders' reflections until next week, when I will offer some general thoughts here and more specific comments on Peter over at First Things . Here I offer just two reflections from an outsider to Protestantism...
Pressure of time means that I will not be able to respond to Peter Leithart's and Fred Sanders' reflections until next week, when I will offer some general thoughts here and more specific comments on Peter over at First Things . Here I offer just two reflections from an outsider to Protestantism...
The latest MoS is up . This week we have taken a break from our road trip to return to the Bunker in Virginia so that Todd could excommunicate a few patriotic women who have sinned by selflessly serving their country. In this episode, the team covers topics as diverse as the connection between...
The latest MoS is up . This week we have taken a break from our road trip to return to the Bunker in Virginia so that Todd could excommunicate a few patriotic women who have sinned by selflessly serving their country. In this episode, the team covers topics as diverse as the connection between...
Last November, over at First Things, Peter Leithart declared the end of Protestantism in what proved to be an incendiary post. A few days later, Fred Sanders of Biola University, fired back, declaring that it was his joy to be and to remain a Protestant. That exchange led to the organisation of a...
Last November, over at First Things, Peter Leithart declared the end of Protestantism in what proved to be an incendiary post. A few days later, Fred Sanders of Biola University, fired back, declaring that it was his joy to be and to remain a Protestant. That exchange led to the organisation of a...
Our Northern Ireland correspondent brought to my attention this story , about three married Boston lesbians who are expecting their first child. It may seem odd but the underlying logic seems sound: if marriage is no longer to be confined to a relationship between one man and one woman, the...
Our Northern Ireland correspondent brought to my attention this story , about three married Boston lesbians who are expecting their first child. It may seem odd but the underlying logic seems sound: if marriage is no longer to be confined to a relationship between one man and one woman, the...
It has been an unhappy week in the Underground Bunker. The return from vacation of She Who Must Be Obeyed (with a different hair style and a rather austere wardrobe choice) has meant that the job of being on MoS has, quite frankly, ceased to be as enjoyable as it was in her absence. Plus, the...
It has been an unhappy week in the Underground Bunker. The return from vacation of She Who Must Be Obeyed (with a different hair style and a rather austere wardrobe choice) has meant that the job of being on MoS has, quite frankly, ceased to be as enjoyable as it was in her absence. Plus, the...
Last week's MoS generated what has been voted the best line in the show so far. No, not our personal favourite ("If anyone could make me a feminist, it would be you two.") but la prima Donna's probing question "What does that even mean?" Only someone with an unerring nose for nonsense, cant, and...
Last week's MoS generated what has been voted the best line in the show so far. No, not our personal favourite ("If anyone could make me a feminist, it would be you two.") but la prima Donna's probing question "What does that even mean?" Only someone with an unerring nose for nonsense, cant, and...
This week's MoS is available and once again it is one where we ventured out of the Bunker and recorded on location. She Who Must Be Obeyed was so impressed with Nunchuck's salvo against Calvinist organic chicken farming last week that, as you can see, she met with La Byrd and gave her a special...
This week's MoS is available and once again it is one where we ventured out of the Bunker and recorded on location. She Who Must Be Obeyed was so impressed with Nunchuck's salvo against Calvinist organic chicken farming last week that, as you can see, she met with La Byrd and gave her a special...
... when not even your friends know how to spell your name.
... when not even your friends know how to spell your name.
Recent events at World Vision and Mozilla appear to have gripped the American conservative Christian imagination. The problem is, of course, that the principle in which Christians delighted in the former is that which they lament in the latter: The power of an economically significant lobby to...
Recent events at World Vision and Mozilla appear to have gripped the American conservative Christian imagination. The problem is, of course, that the principle in which Christians delighted in the former is that which they lament in the latter: The power of an economically significant lobby to...
Conspiracy theorists will be interested in this: is there a link between a famous and controversial Southern Baptist Uberpastor and the controversial and famous new head of Reformation Bible College? Methinks they are linked by more than just sponsorship from the same teeth whitening company. Are...
Conspiracy theorists will be interested in this: is there a link between a famous and controversial Southern Baptist Uberpastor and the controversial and famous new head of Reformation Bible College? Methinks they are linked by more than just sponsorship from the same teeth whitening company. Are...
The OPC website notes that today (April 3) marks the anniversary of an important judicial ruling in California, that a church has the right to fire a gay organist.The book which Charles McIlhenny wrote about the ordeal, When the Wicked Seize a City , is still worth reading and is perhaps more...
The OPC website notes that today (April 3) marks the anniversary of an important judicial ruling in California, that a church has the right to fire a gay organist.The book which Charles McIlhenny wrote about the ordeal, When the Wicked Seize a City , is still worth reading and is perhaps more...
There are numerous items to report today. Tim Challies notes that the extremely informative and helpful volume by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb on helping victims of sexual abuse, Rid of My Disgrace , is now available on Kindle for the bargain price of $1.99. It was reviewed on Ref21 a few years ago...
There are numerous items to report today. Tim Challies notes that the extremely informative and helpful volume by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb on helping victims of sexual abuse, Rid of My Disgrace , is now available on Kindle for the bargain price of $1.99. It was reviewed on Ref21 a few years ago...
In our never-ending quest to make the streets of Gotham safe for women and children and people like Paul Levy, She Who Must Be Obeyed has instructed the MoS team this week to address the matter of mystical Christian chick lit. , specifically the publishing phenomenon that is Jesus Calling. We ask...