Baxter's soup, Wright's soap, and Helm's in deep

[I wrote this entry about three years ago. Its introductory paragraph will explain why I haven't pressed the publish button until now—"now" being March 2011.] IT IS WITH SOME trepidation that I post this. If you move within my circles, you'll know why. When writing and responding to the [former, et passim] Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, if you're not careful to distance yourself from him on certain points, you could find yourself in trouble. This is, of course, appropriate—we are, after all, a confessional bunch, and promoting doctrines that directly contradict the essential elements of one's confession (to be understood as conscience) is neither right nor safe (to borrow from Luther at Worms). Too often among us, responses to him range from...

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Carl Trueman on Public Witness

My interview with Carl Trueman revolving around his new book, Republocrat, has been posted on Q: Ideas blog. Check it ou...

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What You Do vs. Who You Are

THIS IS A SNIPPET from an interview/testimony I delivered at the church of my youth—Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida. In this bit I was attempting to hammer home the notion that salvation isn't so much about what we do but about who we are and to whom we belong....

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Ramblings and Remorse

© Jeanne Freibert THE CAREFUL READER will have noticed the subtitle of this blog—"ramblings and remorse." You get what you pay for here. After my last ramble ("Why I'm Not Young, Restless, & Reformed"), I have a little remorse for not being as clear as I should have been. Sacrificing clarity for the sake of pithy provocation is not the best way (accomplishing both at the same time may be, however). Further explanation is warranted with respect to a couple of the more theological points in that pos...

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Why I’m Not Young, Restless, & Reformed: By One Guy Who Should Be

 (With apologies to Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck for ripping off their title.) [Update: See this clarifying follow-up.] This can’t go the way of thesis/antithesis. I’m young (36, to be exact); I’m quite restless, often moving about; and I asked Calvin into my heart a long time ago. But here’s why I’m not really a part of the Young-Restless-and-Reformed-story (jungeruhelosundreformiert-geschichte), in no particular order: My pathway into the Reformed world was through infant baptism while studying the contours of covenantal theology in the scriptures and Calvin (note the -al at the end). John Piper has exacted virtually no influence on my theological formation, save to make me a more resolute paedobaptist. I’ve been a hipster since 1987...

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