Lord, Show Me Myself

As we finish week two of our study, we begin “Book One: The Knowledge of God the Creator.” The first five chapters address how self-knowledge correlates with knowledge of God, what it means to know God, the natural knowledge or general revelation of God and the intentional suppression of…

You Might Be an Idolator

I preached on Isaiah 46 last week, on Israel’s idolatry and ours. Will we continue to choose idols, or turn to the Lord who brings His righteousness and salvation near to us, for His glory?

Welcome to Local Theologians

We’re reading Calvin’s Institutes in 2017. Join us!

In 2017 we will use John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion as our primary focus. (It is, after all, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.) Our goal is…

Scripture, Truth, Authority, and Interpretive Anarchy

Enjoying Calvin so far. With big questions in tow. And so far, my questions are only getting bigger.

[Update: thanks to Eric’s helpful comment, I have made a few changes to this post. The original is the main…

Some Questions from a Non-Calvinist

I’ll be honest: I’m pretty new to Calvin. I am grateful to him for his place in history, I am grateful for the Calvinists and their work on Scripture and theology and in politics and the arts, some of my favorite thinkers and writers call themselves “Calvinist” or…

Local Race History

I’d invite you to pray with me. Our Young Adults Ministry is hosting a Race History Tour of Boise this Saturday. My prayer is that we learn more about our city and ourselves as we look at the story of racialized sin in our community. I have been convicted that I don’t know (maybe care) enough…

Revelation Book

I wrote a book on Revelation and made it available to our local church on Sunday mornings and then on the website. It’s intended to be an act of local theology, written for our congregation (post-dispensational, tends to be older, conservative, evangelical) but I hope it has application beyond just…

Some Questions for Calvin from the Prefatory

Ok, I might get into the weeds a bit here, but I want to ask some questions of Calvin and see if any of you have answers for me. But first: overall, the Prefatory was good and helpful. Monsieur Jean does a nice job walking His Majesty through the…

Who Needs a Guide? I do! (And so do you)

In his notes to his readers, Pastor Calvin says that his goal in the Institutes is to provide a guide to reading the Scriptures; whether a “student in Sacred Theology” or “all the children of God.” In 1541* he produced an edition of the Institutes in French…

5 Reasons to Read Calvin’s Institutes

Why has Local Theologians chosen to read the Institutes in 2017?

There has been no shortage of words written about Calvin and his magnum opus over the past half-millenium, some in praise and others in derision. I won’t rehash others’ opinions here, but will…