The Hobbit: Celebrating Its 75th Anniversary
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,” begins J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, or There and Back Again—the enchanting prelude to The Lord of the Rings. Today, The Hobbit celebrates its 75th anniversary. Originally published on 21 September 1937, only 1,500 copies were printed. Today, it is one of the most popular fantasy books of all time, with some estimates of more than 100 million copies sold [1]. Numerous critics have noted...
Is History “Bunk”? A Biblical Theology of History
Henry Ford famously commented, “History is bunk” [1]. What is more, he believed it irrelevant, useless, and paramount to “myth” [2]. High school and college students express similar sentiments. Their cries are all-too-familiar: “History is boring and pointless. Who cares?” As Christians, we too may wonder, “Is history really that important?” In fact it is. When compared against Scripture, Ford’s comments border on...
Civic Order, Foreign Affairs, and Biblical Subjection: A Soldier’s Appraisal
Essay by Nathan Trimble The United State of America: The name is known across the world for many reasons, some excellent and some terrible. Nevertheless, it is known in part because of its military influence. Throughout America’s stormy past, the U.S. President and Congress have used the military to defend the nation, to rescue the politically oppressed, and most recently to conduct “counterinsurgency and stability operations in Iraq...
Arminius on the Sanctification of the Believer
While Arminius is often known for his disagreements with Calvinism’s five points, many other aspects of his theology are often neglected. One such issue is the doctrine of sanctification. Both Arminians and Calvinist ignore his teachings as if he never spoke of it at all. Yet this issue defines much of so-called Arminianism today. So what does Arminius teach about sanctification? To answer this question, let us first examine what...
Arminius and the Doctrine of Prevenient Grace
In his recent essay, Jackson Watts reminds us that Arminius wholly affirmed the human will’s complete depravity and perversity after the Fall. The Magisterial Reformers were not alone in affirming this. Arminius too held to the human will’s bondage after the Fall: Therefore, if ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’ (2 Cor. 3:17); and if ‘the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed’ (John 8:36) it...
Arminius on the Human Condition
Determining what’s wrong with people is arguably the most important job of physicians. But the task of diagnostics goes far beyond what shows up in lab results. It is a theological task as well. One of the most important areas of any theologian’s thought is their anthropology. In particular, what perspective they adopt concerning the fall, sin, and the human condition is paramount for knowing whether their theology is biblically...
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