Often treated like the younger sibling in theology, the doctrine of sanctification has spent the last few decades waiting not-so-patiently behind those doctrines viewed as more senior. With so much recent interest in ideas like election and justification, the question of holiness can often seem to be of secondary importance, and widespread misunderstanding of sanctification as moralism or undue ...

• 15th Annual Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year - Also Recommended in Theology
• 2017 The Gospel Coalition Book Award
• Jesus Creed Book of the Year 2017, Church History

Protestant evangelicalism is in crisis. Today it is increasingly difficult for Protestants to identify what counts as distinctively Protestant, much less what ...

Is there hope for Calvinism beyond TULIP? For many, Calvinism evokes the idea of a harsh God who saves a select few and condemns others to eternal torment. Others find comfort in the Five Points of TULIP with its emphasis on the sovereignty of God's grace. Oliver Crisp thinks both sides have too small a picture of the Reformed tradition. There are ample resources for developing ...

Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses caught Europe by storm and initiated the Reformation, which fundamentally transformed both the church and society. Yet by Luther's own estimation, his translation of the Bible into German was his crowning achievement. The Bible played an absolutely vital role in the lives, theology, and practice of the Protestant Reformers. In ...

For centuries, revivals—and the conversions they inspire—have played a significant role in American evangelicalism. Often unnoticed or unconsidered, however, are the particular theologies underlying these revivals and conversions to faith. With that in mind, church historian Robert Caldwell traces the fascinating story of American revival theologies from the First Great Awakening through the ...

Evil abounds. And so do the attempts to understand God in the face of such evil.

The problem of evil is a constant challenge to faith in God. How can we believe in a loving and powerful God given the existence of so much suffering in the world? Philosophers and theologians have addressed this problem countless times over the centuries. New explanations have been proposed in ...

Evangelical. Sacramental. Pentecostal. Christian communities tend to identify with one of these labels over the other two. Evangelical churches emphasize the importance of Scripture and preaching. Sacramental churches emphasize the importance of the eucharistic table. And pentecostal churches emphasize the immediate presence and power of the Holy Spirit. But must we choose between them? Could the ...

Christians confess that God calls people to salvation. Reformed Christians, in particular, believe this is an effectual calling, meaning that God sovereignly brings about salvation apart from human works. But in what sense does God actually 'call' us? Does a doctrine of effectual calling turn people into machines that lack any personal agency?

In this lucidly ...