“The fascination of mystery is so strong that almost all religious and social organizations that exercise or have exercised an inspiring and lasting influence on mankind have wrapped themselves up in the obscurity of mystery, and have even gloried in the mysteries which they were aware of, although they disdained Christianity because of its mysteries. Their mysteries, products of human invention,...  [Continue Reading]

If you’ve ever traveled in conservative evangelical or fundamentalist circles, you know the Scofield Reference Bible. It’s a hefty tome, and influential. And one could argue that this annotated edition of the Scriptures, first published in 1909, created modern fundamentalism. Its editor, C.I. Scofield, made his own theological opinions seem like the plain sense of the Scripture text. In reality, his...  [Continue Reading]

In his detailed commentary on Matthew, Robert Gundry makes the argument that Jesus was purposeful in using different words in his declaration to Peter—“you are petros, and on this petra I will build my church” (Matt 16:18).

Gundry is representative of many Protestant commentators. His view: the rock the Church is built upon is decidedly not Peter, but something else. In Gundry’s view, the petra,...  [Continue Reading]

Heads-up. Let’s get ready to rumble! Over the next coming days I’m going to spend some time here looking at one of the most debated passages in all of the Gospels. So, here we go. . .
In Matthew 16:13–20 we read the famous confession of faith by Peter at Caesarea Philippi. In response to his statement affirming him as the “Son of the Living God,” Jesus tells Peter: “I tell you, you are Peter [Greek:...  [Continue Reading]

“Far from repudiating Christianity or regarding it with suspicious eyes because of its mysteries, we ought to recognize its divine grandeur in these very mysteries. So essential to Christianity are its mysteries that in its character of truth revealed by the Son of God and the Holy Spirit it would stand convicted of intrinsic contradiction if it brought forward no mysteries. Its Author would carry...  [Continue Reading]

One of my all-time favorite theologians is Matthias Joseph Scheeben (pronounced: “shay-ben”), an obscure German theologian who lived in the 19th century. I want to post up some of what he has said about the mysterious dimension of the Christian faith. Before I do that though, a little bio.

Biography

Eugene Druwé gives a short biography of Scheeben in the a preface to Scheeben’s two volume work on...  [Continue Reading]