Fred SandersA scene from the Leben der heiligen Altväter (1482)
Online Writing
10 Things You Should Know About the Holy Spirit
1. If you know the doctrine of the Trinity, you already know the most important things about the Holy Spirit. Christians confess that the one God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is…
To Be God is to Be HappyEnjoying Divine Blessedness
When Paul says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us,” he uses the same word twice: blessed (Ephesians 1:3). A moment’s thought, however, shows that God blesses us altogether differently…
Review of Roger Olson’s Against Liberal TheologyA Nonconservative’s Plea to Those Leaving Conservative Churches
In the preface of Roger Olson’s new book, Against Liberal Theology, we meet a particular type of exvangelical all too familiar in this age of disillusionment and deconstruction. As Olson describes this tribe, “They grew up in…
Don’t Skip Theology’s Middle Ground
It’s true that evangelical Christians and churches need to get back to the riches of the earliest Christian theology. Gavin Ortlund makes an eloquent case for this in his book Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need…
The Whole Trinity in the Whole BibleResponse to Peter Leithart's "Triune Creator"
It is with eagerness and delight that Christian readers turn their attention to the triune God’s self-revelation in Scripture. We take in the whole book from the beginning to the end, and rise from our reading…
Follow the Trinity by Following ChristDiscipleship in a Trinitarian Key
There is no more straightforward way of describing the Christian life than to call it discipleship. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is the core, the focus, and the form of what it means to be…
We Need the Soul-Stirring of John Wesley
Is anybody listening to the voice of John Wesley anymore? Of course Wesley is still famous enough, with a name widely recognized more than two centuries after his death. He has fame, fans, and followers. There…
Permanent Self-Hallowing and the Processional Life of GodFrom a Symposium on Sonderegger's ST II
Katherine Sonderegger freely admits that in her Systematic Theology, Volume 2 she has written “an unfamiliar, perhaps odd book on the Holy Trinity” (p. xxix). It is also a masterpiece, a sustained virtuoso performance at the highest level of…
Forever and Always the SonWhy We Treasure Eternal Generation
Good theology is an invitation to look deeper into the things we believe. When it comes to the most important doctrines, we have the advantage of a rich history of carefully crafted creeds and confessions to help us along the way. For example, we believe that God the Son is “eternally begotten, not made, without beginning, being of one essence with the Father.” What is eternal generation and how important is it?
Whatever Happened to Jokes? The Comedy of the Situation
If I had to make a case on behalf of the sitcom, I would offer the following defense: As formats for humor go, the sitcom is the format that makes itself most at home in the…
Phillip E. Johnson, Who Put Darwin on Trial, Dies at 79
An obituary at The Gospel Coalition for my friend Phillip Johnson
5 Myths About the Trinity
Myth #1: It’s only for theology experts. The doctrine of the Trinity is for everybody who is saved by Jesus. Or, to say that just a little more elaborately, it’s for everybody who has been drawn…
Something Better Than the Gospel
There is something even better than the good news, and that something is God. The good news of the gospel is that God has opened up the dynamics of his triune life and given us a…
Why the Reformation Should Make You More catholic
On the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, an article for The Gospel Coalition about how being Protestant is a way to be more universal, that is, catholic in the true sense.
3 Reasons to Make Systematic Theology Part of Your Bible Study
“Oh dear,” he muttered, his features rearranging themselves into a mask of poorly-concealed dismay. All I had said, in response to him asking what subject I taught, was “systematic theology.” But those two words, those eight…
10 Things You Should Know About the Trinity
1. The Trinity is something God wants us to know. If you believe the Bible reveals that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then you ought to believe that God made this known because he…
Making Christology Safe for ChristologyJohn Webster’s “Christology, Theology, Economy”
Whenever John Webster published one of his essays, it seemed you could hear from certain sectors of the theological academy the sound of theologians dropping everything. They wanted—we wanted—to make sure our hands were free so we…
Why I Don’t Flow with Richard Rohr
A review of Richard Rohr’s book on the Trinity. I don’t “go negative” very often, but I really wanted to intercept this book’s false teaching, and The Gospel Coalition was a good place to do it.
