Some Recent YouTube Dialogues

Categories: Miscellaneous · roman catholicism5 Comments

I’ve been too swamped for much blogging lately because over the summer I was traveling a bit and finishing up a book project, and also because over the summer and into the fall I’ve been doing a lot more stuff on YouTube. For the rest of this fall, I’m just focusing on my church, my family, and finishing up a few remaining items of research in my project of engaging ecumenical theology. In 2022 I’m hoping to draw that research into a book, and then launch into a new study project of various cultural issues (gender, CRT, issues of justice,…

The Fascinating Story of Patristic Baptism(s)

Categories: Credobaptism · History4 Comments

One of the things that I emphasized in my video on baptism in the early church a few months back is how fascinatingly different much patristic baptismal practice is from all churches today. Three-year catechetical preparation, nude baptisms, solemn renunciations of Satan, Eucharistic celebrations with milk and honey—it’s such an interesting and colorful history! As I mentioned in the video, studying baptism hit me at an emotional level, especially because of the frequent reality of persecution associated with it. Baptism connotes something of the wonder of the gospel, the church, and the drama of Christianity in confrontation with a hostile…

Why I’m Engaging Catholicism on YouTube

Categories: roman catholicism43 Comments

The biggest surprise of my YouTube ministry thus far has been getting pulled into the orbit of Catholic-Orthodox-Protestant dialogue. I did not expect that, and it has not previously been a particular area of emphasis for me. However, I’ve been amazed to discover (1) how much hunger there is on YouTube for such conversations, and (2) how relatively weak the Protestant side is on YouTube, particularly in relation Roman Catholic channels. For whatever reason, the volume of Catholic content and Catholic viewership on YouTube is absolutely massive. And lots of Protestants considering converting to Catholicism are taking to YouTube with…

Church Fathers Who Denied the Immaculate Conception

Categories: History · roman catholicism · Theologians17 Comments

Recently I had the privilege of participating in a discussion with some Catholic brothers over at the Reason and Theology channel on our respective views of the virgin Mary. Thank you, Michael, Erik, and William for having me! For anyone interested, we are talking again on February 9. I thought it might be useful to compile some of the quotes I referenced that I regard as countervailing data among the church fathers with respect to the third Marian dogma, the immaculate conception of Mary. That way those following the debate can look them up for themselves. I know there is…

Why YouTube? Four Reasons, and Some Reflections Thus Far

Categories: Philosophy · Theology7 Comments

About a month ago I started a YouTube channel. It’s something of an experiment for me, but here are four reasons (or “hunches”) that motivated me: 1) There are lots, and lots, and lots (and lots) of people who will neither attend a church service nor read a theology book, but nonetheless are interested in ultimate, philosophical, and religious questions. For better or worse, people are taking such questions to YouTube. So YouTube is a mission field. It’s a strategy to engage people by going where they already are. 2) It seems to me that theology is pretty sorely underrepresented on…

Should Churches in California Defy Government Restrictions? A Response to John MacArthur

Categories: Devotional Thoughts · Miscellaneous · Theology182 Comments

Yesterday John MacArthur released a video update to his church family. As is well-known, Grace Community Church has chosen to defy the state order issued by Governor Newsome banning indoor worship services. At 10:35-10:50 of the video, MacArthur states: Churches are shutting down—large churches shutting down until, they say, January. I don’t have any way to understand that other than they don’t know what a church is, and they don’t shepherd their people. He further intimates that pastors and church leaders who choose not to resist the Governor’s order lack the courage to direct the church to her calling in…

Why Augustine on Creation?

Categories: Augustine · Creation Issues18 Comments

Several people have asked about my book on Augustine’s doctrine of creation, and what kinds of readers might be interested in it, so I thought I’d provide a little bit of context for what the book is about, who it’s for, why I wrote it, etc. This is a book that came out of our year in Chicago. We spent the 2017-2018 school year living on campus at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where I worked at the Henry Center as a research fellow in connection with the Creation Project. Basically that meant that my job was to write. It was…

Discussion Questions for Finding the Right Hills to Die On

Categories: Book Reviews · Complementarianism · Continuationism · Creation Issues · Credobaptism · Gospel · Justification1 Comment

I’ve had a number of folks mention that they are taking a church board or ministry team or small group through Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage. So I am providing some discussion questions in case they are useful for groups to utilize in this process. Gregory the Great used to call himself “a servant of the servants of God.” That sums up what I have hoped for this book: that it would serve those who serve the church. I pray that these questions would play the same role. Introduction 1) Do you have…

Five Books to Read by Church Fathers

Categories: Athanasias · Augustine · History · Irenaeus · Theology6 Comments

One of the questions I get a lot about theological retrieval is where to start. Lots of people see the value of reading ancient texts but are unsure exactly where to dive in. So I thought it might be useful to identify five classic texts from the church fathers that (1) are significant, theologically and historically, (2) are relatively easy to read and understand, and (3) in some cases tend to get neglected. Any list like this is bound to be somewhat arbitrary and leave important works out, so take this all with a grain of salt. But these works…