Worldview and Perspective on Church History

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Pursuing the Common Good Throughout History

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Scripture

Matthew 22:39, Philippians 2:3-4, 1 Corinthians 10:24, Romans 15:1-2, Galatians 6:10, Romans 12:10, Acts 20:35, Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 58:6-7, Proverbs 19:17, Luke 10:30-37, James 2:15-16, 1 John 3:17, Proverbs 31:8-9, Matthew 25:40, Acts 11:29-30, 2 Corinthians 8:13-15, Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32-35, 1 Corinthians 12:25-26

Pursuing the common good has been a strong marker of the Christian church from the very beginning. The early church had many habits that they became known for, of course—including meeting frequently, ...

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The Martyr's Mindset: Ignatius of Antioch and Death as Worship

Author

Ryan Bundrick

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Scripture

Matthew 16:25, Romans 8:17-18, Philippians 1:21, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Psalm 116:115, Daniel 3:, Daniel 6:

How many modern Christians consider dying to be the worst thing that can happen to them? We pray for safety, healing, and protection, and rightly so. However, do we live in the truth that death has tr...

liturgy

Adapted from Hebrews 10:19-25

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Scripture

Hebrews 10:19-25

Leader: Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, All: by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, t...

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Author

Gustav Mahler

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Scripture

2 Timothy 1:6-7, Psalm 78:4, Hebrews 12:28-29, 1 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:15

Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire.

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The Cave

Author

William Rowley

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:8-12, John 1:, John 17:18, Philippians 2:6-11, 1 John 1:7, Romans 8:1, Colossians 1:13-14

The Cave One of the most famous passages in Plato's Republic is his "Allegory of the Cave," which is found at the beginning of book seven . Socrates imagines the human condition al...

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Author

Jaroslav Pelikan

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:2-6, Mark 7:3-13, Colossians 2:8, Galatians 1:14

Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.

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Author

Phillip Yancey

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History shows that when the church uses the tools of the world's kingdom, it becomes as ineffectual, or as tyrannical, as any other power structure. And whenever the church has intermingled with t...

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K. I. S. S.

Author

Sarah Puryear

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 15:

Have you heard the acronym “K. I. S. S”? It stands for “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” Paul doesn’t exactly call the Corinthians stupid (in 1 Cor. 15), though elsewhere Paul sounds tempted to do so, when ...

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Author

Augustine of Hippo

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 2:1-16, Romans 11:33, Deuteronomy 29:29, Isaiah 40:28

If you understood Him, it would not be God.

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Author

Martin Luther

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Scripture

Luke 5:31-32, 1 Timothy 1:15, 1 John 1:9, Romans 5:6-8, Mark 2:17, Isaiah 1:18, Micah 7:18-19

It is quite enough that you have sinned. Now let go of it. Don’t let your despondency lead to an even greater offence. The Lord says, ‘I do not wish the death of the sinner, but rather that he repent ...

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Author

Martin Luther

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Scripture

Galatians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 53:4-5, Romans 8:3, 1 Peter 2:24

A magistrate regards someone as a criminal and punishes him if he catches him among thieves, even though the man has never committed anything evil or worthy of death. Christ was not only found among s...

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Prayer for the Jeh

Author

Bradley Long

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Scripture

Luke 18:1-14, Luke 11:5-13, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Ephesians 6:18, Colossians 1:9, Philippians 4:6, Genesis 18:23-33, Exodus 32:31-32, 1 Samuel 1:10-11, Psalm 40:1, Psalm 116:1-2, James 4:2

One of the main linguists that worked on Rosetta Stone , a computerized language-learning tool, moved to Vietnam in 1962… of his own free will! He and a ministry partner went to translate the Bibl...

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Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 15:3, John 3:16

The early Christian writers used some stunning expressions of delight and gratitude when they mentioned Jesus’s death. Think of Paul saying, “He loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20), or “The ...

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Latimer! Be Careful What You Say

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 98:, Matthew 10:28, Acts 5:29, Daniel 3:16-18, Exodus 1:15-17, 2 Timothy 4:2, Isaiah 33:22, Hebrews 13:6, Matthew 5:10-12, Revelation 2:10

William Barclay tells the story of Hugh Latimer, one of England’s great preachers and leaders of the English reformation (16th cent.), eventually a martyr for that cause. On an occasion when Latimer w...

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God Hinting

Author

Debra Hirsch

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 7:1-9, Matthew 19:3-12 , Psalm 139:13-16 , Genesis 2:18-25, Song of Solomon 4:1-16, Proverbs 5:15-19, Genesis 2:18

James Nelson describes sexuality as the central clue to what God is up to in the world. While this might seem a little over the top, when you think about it, sexuality factors integrally in our relati...

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The Opiate of the People?

Author

Augustus Nicodemus Lopes

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:1-2, 2 Peter 3:13, Titus 2:13, Romans 8:18, Isaiah 65:17, Matthew 6:10

Some people call religion the opiate of the people. Karl Marx had Christianity and our eschatological hope in mind when he said that. Some contend that pointing to the future as the Christian’s ultima...

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God of love—Father, Son and Holy

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

John 11:32-35, Acts 10:, John 5:1-9, Luke 10:25-37, Ephesians 4:3-6, Matthew 25:40

God of love—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: You loved us before we ever knew You. Give us such a deep love for You, that we can see the world as You see it, feel the compassion You feel, and be a people ...

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Truth in the Pulpit: Why Intellectual Integrity Matters for Pastors

Author

William Rowley

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While sexual sin, financial scandals, and toxic work environments hurt pastoral credibility, a more subtle, and probably more common danger is carelessness with the truth. Intellectual integrity matte...

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What is the Christian Imagination Deficit? How Do We Fix It?

Author

Brian Brown

Keywords

There Are No Ordinary Things J. R. R. Tolkien tells a short story about an ordinary fellow who just wants to finish a painting. Over time, he is constantly distracted by the requests of his neighbors...

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The Wesleyan Quadrilateral

Author

James Bryan Smith

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One of the gifts John Wesley left the church is the Quadrilateral. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral refers to the four ways we come to know something as true: Scripture (what the Bible teaches), tradition (...

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Armor for a Soldier, not a Warrior

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 6:10-18

In most western societies, what do people think of when you say "armor of God"? I wouldn't be surprised if the image that comes to mind is the kind of plate armor you see in movies abou...

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About Anti-Asian Racism in America (And What Your Church Can Do About)

Author

Jin Cho

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 7:9

The following article was originally written for the author’s denominational newsletter as part of the celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. It is meant to provide some insights into t...

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Author

Phillip Yancey

Keywords

I see the confusion of politics and religion as one of the greatest barriers to grace. C. S. Lewis observed that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with p...

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The Gospel and the Other: Preaching in an Age of "Us vs. Them"

Author

Andrew DeCort

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 10:25-37

When conflict and division are driving both politics and media (including social media), the contrast between the way of the world and the way of Jesus stands out more than ever. How can pastors, task...

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Author

Charles Malik

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Anti-Intellectualism

I must be frank with you: the greatest danger confronting American evangelical Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism. The mind in its greatest and deepest reaches is not cared for enough....

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Experiencing Joy and Sorrow as a Black Man

Author

Jonathan Walton

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In 2008, I felt like an American for the first time because I saw a leader who looked like me. All my life I hoped my education and accomplishments would free me from the history of my skin color as i...

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The Death of Christendom

Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

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In one generation, the place of Christianity within culture dramatically shifted as we experienced what theologians and sociologists of religion call the “death of Christendom.” Christendom isn’t Chri...

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The Unfulfilled Atheist

Author

Brian Loritts

Keywords

Some years ago, I was approached by a young man in our church who described himself as an “unfulfilled atheist.” He wanted to know why he should consider Christianity. I responded to him by asking him...

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Never Give up

Author

James Boice

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:, Exodus 14:21-31, Daniel 3:13-30 , 1 Kings 18:20-40, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 23:

In the second century before Christ the great rival to Roman power in the Mediterranean world was Carthage, the Phoenician city-state located on the north African coast. It had been founded in 822 B.C...

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Author

Russell Moore

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The problem was that . . . Christian values were always more popular in American culture than the Christian gospel. That’s why one could speak of “God and country” with great reception in almost any e...

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