The Personal Website of Christopher Brown
Debates in the Reformed circles of the Church range from petty to vicious to important, and I have no interest in jumping into unnecessary argumentation. But, I think the debate over whether Jesus is eternally, but functionally, subordinate to the Father in the Triune Godhead is an important one. The debate itself is basically over,…
A Hot Pepper Corn: Richard Baxter’s Doctrine of Justification in Its Seventeenth-Century Context of Controversy by Hans Boersma My rating: 4 of 5 stars A difficult yet rewarding read about the unique views of Richard Baxter regarding justification. Baxter’s controversies with John Owen are set within their appropriate historical context, and due diligence is paid…
In doing research for ordination (I’ll be ordained in the PCA, Lord-willing), I’ve come across a few good videos about the development of the biblical canon. Kruger is a thoughtful, tempered, godly voice in a world of scholarly speculation.
Transforming Homosexuality: What the Bible Says about Sexual Orientation and Change by Denny Burk My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a good, short look at a neglected topic in the discussion about homosexuality and Christianity: orientation. The authors have a helpful critique of secular explanations about orientation, and advance a more biblical explanation…
The Symbolism of Evil by Paul Ricœur My rating: 1 of 5 stars If this book is a good demonstration of phenomenology, then phenomenology is a series of arrogant assumptions, linguistic fallacies, and logical fallacies. View all my reviews
In the Reformed world, transformationalism is the most prevalent view of Church-culture relations. This view espouses that because Jesus rules over all things, even culture is a part of Jesus’ kingdom. A general tagline for transformationalism is, “Christ transforms culture”. Practically, this view means that when a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, their…
Liberation theology gets one truth correct about the gospel, which is that Jesus identifies with the oppressed. But there are two major issues with liberation theology’s understanding of this concept. First, though Jesus does “identify” with the oppressed in a sense, yet the cross is emptied of its power when it is seen merely as…
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō My rating: 3 of 5 stars The natural and insightful side of this book is unfortunately (pun-intended) obscured by the rather Shinto-Buddhist-New-Age elements. But, if you remove the unnecessary elements of the book, it really does have some insightful…
The Marrow of Modern Divinity by Edward Fisher My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book, besides the Bible itself, may be my favorite book. It is a wonderful explanation of the gospel, the free offer of that gospel, and of the issues of legalism and antinomianism. This edition also contains an explanation of the…
I’ve been unsettled by the poem Invictus ever since I had to memorize it in High School. It is lauded and celebrated by so many as an example of the resolve of will required to persist in this harsh world. But I actually believe it is an arrogant poem. So, randomly, and recently, I wrote…