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Two somewhat related thoughts… First, recasting Hitler as some misunderstood, persecuted, well-intentioned leader is false. It’s historical revisionism, and no doubt part of a broader effort to corrupt the way people think about evil, power, and history. You don’t have to buy into every prevailing narrative about the twentieth century to recognize that. A society that loses the ability to clearly identify genuine evil is a society that becomes vulnerable to it. Second, so much (which is different from saying all) of what has been going on in the online Reformed world over the last few years is a strange mix of proxy wars, bitterness from soured relationships, and influencers fighting one another over what they treat as a zero-sum audience. It’s a mess. The more things moved in that direction, the more I moved away from it. And I have no intention of getting pulled back into it. Even posting this will bring out the “name names” and “declare your allegiance” crowd. You get it from both sides. Disavow this guy or declare your loyalty to me. If you don’t publicly denounce someone, you’re secretly with him. If you don’t publicly pledge your allegiance to another person, you’re not a real friend. Oh well.

Race and ethnicity belong to the circumstances that make up the self and the empirical structure of human existence. But those circumstances change. They’re real. But they’re not also at the same time permanently abiding even within one’s own biographical existence.

In the first part of Natural Theology, Johann Alsted considers the general aspects of the topic, such as the proofs of God and his attributes, how to understand his figurative properties, the worship due to him, and what the condition of men is after this life. In the second part of Natural Theology, Johann Alsted considers the method of Book of Nature, angels, the properties of natural bodies, meteorological phenomena, land animals, sea creatures, and the four states of man: economic, scholastic, sacred, and political; and more besides. Matt Marino @RefClassicalist writes in the foreword: "The Reformed orthodox of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries did not share these trepidations concerning natural theology. They commended such reasoning for the refutation of atheists, for the confirmation of faith, or as an aid in elaborating upon our knowledge of God even within the system of Christian doctrine. No early Reformed thinker more systematically articulated this concept than Johann Heinrich Alsted in his 1615 work Theologia Naturalis, written, as he describes, “for the sake of those who wish to read with profit that great Book of Nature and to use it successfully against the profane men of this age.” Translated by Jonathan Tomes @postnuance Hardcover with dust jacket 6×9 Volume 1: 408 pages Volume 2: 638 pages $75 full set berithpress.com/bookstore/p/…

Study the peace of the Church. Labor and pray for its preservation in hard times

I enjoyed a great evening at Redeemer PCA in Austin with @Greystone_Inst. Dr. Mark Garcia gave us a theology of place through wine. He carefully unfolded its theological meaning and biographical existence, while also putting his gifts as a sommelier to good use. If you get a chance to attend one of their Christianity and Wine events, don’t miss it!

My prayer is that there was ignorance about this that will be clarified. Darwinian racialism is obviously out of step with orthodoxy.

First sighting in my early modern retrieval adventure, γυναικοκρατούμενοι

Denoms prob need two committees: one on the confession vis a vis establishmentarianism, political philosophy, etc, and another on kinism, race-realism etc. Lumping the two together isnt good. You don’t want to accidentally anathematize the ARP and the RPCNA.

Maybe something like this, but I’m NOT a church council: “[rejecting] any theological or political teaching that claims, implies, or promotes the inherent superiority or inferiority of any people, nation, race, or ethnic group, as though empirical moral differences between peoples were grounded in differing human nature; while also recognizing that peoples and cultures may be genuinely shaped, elevated, or corrupted over time by religion, custom, law, and the presence or absence of the gospel.”

Do you think that this statement is attempting to address a real problem in Reformed churches? And if so, how would you craft the statement?

Anglicanism is the only meaningful hope for a healthy mix of universal non-racialized churchmanship, and Protestant political theology in the US. It’s also in the worst shape of any major Protestant communion. Not great Bob!

On the theological program... Link below.

The Return of Strong Christian Men by Scott Yenor Available now to read: firstthings.com/the-return-o…

The back and forth discourse isn’t always comfortable or easy, but the irenic target has not changed. DMs are always open.

And last, but by no means least: Editor Romesh Prakashpalan (@romeshp) writes: "Before he signed the Declaration of Independence, John Witherspoon was a thirty-year-old minister in the Church of Scotland. In 1753, he anonymously wrote this withering satire on the Moderate Party, then ascendant in the Presbyterian Church. Ecclesiastical Characteristics is a satirical manual, instructing Moderates how to trade the Confession of Faith for the polish of a fine gentleman. In it, Witherspoon condemns the Moderates in their own voice. It is an enjoyable yet sorrowful must-read in a day when churchmen are likewise tempted to follow the Moderates’ playbook."

In The Wonderful Workmanship of the World, French Reformer Lambert Daneau (c.1530-1590) gives the reader Scriptural insights of natural philosophy relating to this world, its creation, God's sustaining of it, and the study of natural philosophy itself. This work will encourage young and old minds alike.