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. (more…)
Roger Williams, because of his views of freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state, and the fact that he was able to implement them in Rhode Island, is celebrated as the founder of American liberties by writers as diverse as nineteenth-century Democratic historian George Bancroft (History of the United States, vol 1, p. 255), Southern Presbyterian theologian Robert L. Dabney (Lectures in Systematic Theology, p. 880) and the writer of the article on Roger Williams at Wikipedia. (more…)
That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time –John Stuart Mill
To balance out the ten worst monsters list, I offer my top ten American heroes. There have been many more monsters than heroes, so compiling this list has been a bit more work. (more…)
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. (more…)
Just about every day is the anniversary of one Allied atrocity or another. I only mention this one because (more…)
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 (more…)
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 (more…)
In this film, David Wark Griffith tells four stories in parallel, three from history, and one fictional modern one. The historical episodes are the fall of ancient Babylon, the crucifixion of Christ, and the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of the Huguenots. The modern story tracks a young woman and man that find each other but seem to be fated to lose (more…)
What does a fifteenth century German Diet have to do with American “no taxation without representation”? Quite a lot, actually. (more…)
Simcha Jacobovici researched and narrates this documentary for the History Channel.
The thesis is that the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt indeed (more…)
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 (more…)
Like a few recent commentators, I too believe that there is a good deal more to history than what the court historians report. Like the poor, conspirators will always be with us. Augustine reminds us that history is to understood as a battle between two cities. One uses the power of the Word and Spirit to advance its kingdom, the other is apt to cheat, steal, rape, kill and blunder. But the City of Man’s main method of warfare is not force, but dissimulation and secrecy. Christendom seems to have forgotten that our enemy is the deceiver of the nations. (more…)
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 (more…)
We are asked to support Bush’s War because of evil Saddam Hussein.
The War was justified by a sequence of statements by Bush that have proven false or unwarranted. By unwarranted, I mean (more…)
To understand politics, one must understand origins. And the Republican Party cannot be understood without understanding Abraham Lincoln. (more…)