This is a review of the mimeographed history by D. Carson Continue reading
Category Archives: Modern (1500-1900)
The Slovak people continue five centuries to 1938
Continuing the brief history of the Slovak people from the narrative begun earlier, through the modern Continue reading
Noll on Bible and Slavery in US History
An essay by Prof Mark A. Noll of Wheaton College in the collection Religion and the American Civil War (Oxford, 1998) outlines the place of the Bible in the American debate on slavery during the years leading up to the Civil War. Noll identifies the dominant view of the Bible on both side of the debate as “Reformed literalist.” Given that view of the Bible, the proslavery side seemed to have the upper hand. The Abolitionists were willing to move toward a “spirit not letter” type of interpretation, but all the orthodox saw this approach as a trajectory toward liberalism. Noll knows that “proslavery” — his term — is wrong, though a high view of the Bible is right; so he explores what might have gone wrong. He examines four alternative hermeneutical traditions that could have led to a different conclusion on slavery, while still holding to a high view of the Bible:(1) the “African American” way of reading the Bible; (2) the Roman Catholic; (3) High-church Lutheranism or Reformed; (4) the non-Southern Reformed, especially Charles Hodge. Only the last named of these had enough of a foothold in America to temper the discussion, but it fell short because of a root inconsistency in the American outlook which compromised the profession of sola scriptura and led to failure to draw a key distinction that would have unraveled the proslavery argument. Continue reading
Cheat sheet for the Romanov succession
I have prepared a chart showing the Romanov succession of czars, along with the preceding century, in a way that is proportional to elapsed time, and with a few noteworthy parallel events in history indicated. Go here. (May be helpful while reading the Solzhenitsyn selections.)
Protected: 200 Years Together: You’re in; no, you’re out. Okay, you’re in
Protected: 200 Years Together: The Judaizing Heresy
Ten Monsters of English History
Since the previous post on “monsters” (The Ten Worst Monsters of American History) proved diversionary for some, I thought a similar treatment of our cousins across the Atlantic would be of interest. Continue reading
Jena the Battlefield
The British were willing to negotiate with Napoleon, and in August 1806 made generous concessions, only asking for unmolested control of Hannover; Talleyrand favored the agreement, but Napoleon nixed it. Continue reading
Francke and Halle
The return from Lutheran bare orthodoxy to inward change, known as Pietism, was begun by Jakob Spener, though anticipated in the earlier writings of Johann Arndt. It grew wings, however, as a result of the life of August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), and transformed the city of Halle in remarkable ways. This is a brief rehearsal of this amazing story. Continue reading
Roger Williams, Independent (HCC #3)
Roger Williams, because of his views of freedom of conscience and Continue reading
The Ten Worst Monsters of American History
In a recent article, Gary North enlists the aid of his readers to come up with the worst monsters in American history. I immediately went to work, but soon realized that my criteria were not the same as North’s. For one thing, North put on the stricture that the monster had to use other people’s money. Though this requirement is met in most of the monsters I came up with, it did not include all. So rather than contributing to his list, I offer my own. Below is the fruit of my effort. Continue reading
Book: Spener. Pia Desideria
Philip Jacob Spener wrote this initially as a preface to an edition of some sermons by J. Arndt; it became popular in its own right and subsequently was published by itself Continue reading
Jena the town
Jena (pron. YAY nuh) is a quiet little town on the Saale River. The Saale forms the left segment that, with the Elbe, defines the triangle in which the Saxons finally Continue reading
Book: Arndt. True Christianity
Johann Arndt (1555-1621) was a Lutheran minister that was troubled by formalism or dead orthodoxy among the German people. He wrote this book, True Christianity (Wahre Christenthum) to counter this trend, arguing that mere assent to correct doctrines Continue reading
Book: Carsten. Princes and Parliaments in Germany
What does a fifteenth century German Diet have to do with American Continue reading
Book: Barnes. Prophecy and Gnosis
Review of Robin Bruce Barnes, Prophecy and Gnosis: Apocalypticism in the Wake of the Lutheran Reformation (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988). BT 819.5 .B35 1988
Under the rubric of apocalypticism, this book weaves together a story about views of time and history, eschatology, astrology, magic and secret societies in Lutheran Germany in the century following the Reformation.
Prof. Barnes (of Davidson College) defines apocalypticism as a view of the future combining prophecy and Continue reading
Leipzig
In the later twelfth century, Leipzig Continue reading
Book: Zahn. The Influence of the Reformed Church on Prussia’s Greatness
This is a pamphlet I discovered at the WTS library containing a speech by one Adolf Zahn to the evangelical faculty of the Royal and Imperial University in Vienna in around 1871. It is interesting for two reasons.
First, it is fascinating to discover an intellectually vigorous Reformed movement Continue reading
The Bill of Rights, RIP
With the current Republican pedophile scandal and cover-up dominating the headlines, you may have missed what happened last week. On Thursday, September 28, Congress passed a law that effectively destroyed the Bill of Rights. The name of the bill that killed it sounds benign enough, “The Military Commissions Act of 2006.” But with its passage the last vestiges of our constitutional republic disappeared. Continue reading