Twos and Threes – Part 3 – Soul Friends

The churches in Corinth had fallen into a crisis: Schism, abuse of worship and the Lord’s Supper, winking at sin, neglecting their callings and gifts, and, worst of all, failing at the basics of love.…

Twos and Threes – Part 2 – You Keep on Using That Word…

Between friendship and living like the Lone Ranger, I’m pretty sure friendship is the preferred mode of existence. Everybody wants friends, and most people have friends. TV commercials are populated with friends doing things together—driving…

Twos and Threes – Part 1 – Got Friends?

Perhaps the most beloved of all Carole King’s songs is “You’ve Got a Friend”: When you’re down and troubled and you need some loving care, and nothin’, oh nothin’ is going right, close your eyes…

Two Cities – Part 5 – The Long Conversation

In his introduction to the Everyman’s Library edition of The City of God, Sir Ernest Barker observed, “This is what makes the work one of the great turning-points in the history of human destiny: It…

Two Cities – Part 4 – The Problem with Right Belief

The growing antipathy—and in some cases, outright hostility—to the Christian movement in our day bears some resemblance to the complaints of those ancient pagan Romans who fled to North Africa after the fall of Rome…

Two Cities – Part 3 – Simply Wrong

The wrong-believing pagans of Rome, who were laying the blame on Christianity for the fall of the Eternal City in 411 AD, demonstrated one truth at least: When it comes to unbelief, there simply is…

Two Cities – Part 2 – Obvious and Undeniable

Augustine’s first parry in response to those who took a swing at Christianity as the cause for Rome’s destruction was to point out an obvious and undeniable truth: If it weren’t for the fact that…

Two Cities – Part 1 – Right Belief, Wrong Belief

News of the fall of Rome reached the north African city of Hippo on the lips of indignant refugees. Rape, pillage, slaughter, widespread vandalism by the unwashed barbarian hordes—the account no doubt horrified all who…

Seeing Jesus – Part 4 – Not Whether, but What?

I can imagine that, for some of us, the idea of “seeing Jesus” is either too abstract or esoteric, or too close to idolatry to explore. We feel a little iffy thinking about Jesus, trying…

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