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Marcion on the Elbe

Accusations of anti-Judaism are flying in Germany. In a 2013 essay, “Die Kirche und das Alte Testament” (The Church and the Old Testament), Notger Slenczka, a Protestant theologian at the Humboldt University of Berlin, argued that the Old Testament “should not have canonical validity in the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Monster's Servant

Thomas Cromwell:  A Revolutionary Life by diarmaid macculloch viking, 752 pages, $40 They said it could not be done. At least Sir Geoffrey Elton, to whose memory his former doctoral student has dedicated this book, said it could not be done. According to him, as Diarmaid MacCulloch reminds us, . . . . Continue Reading »

Learning From Luther

The Making of Martin Luther by richard rex princeton, 296 pages, $27.95 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation by peter marshall oxford, 278 pages, $24.95 A World Ablaze: The Rise of Martin Luther and the Birth of the Reformation by craig harline  oxford, 312 pages, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Theology of Foreign Policy

On matters of foreign policy, Americans are divided into two hidden camps. Not Republicans versus Democrats, nor liberals versus conservatives, nor rival schools of foreign policy you read about in college courses. The divide is primarily religious in nature—or perhaps “theological” is the . . . . Continue Reading »

Ecumenical Incorrectness

Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformationby kenneth j. collins and jerry l. wallsbaker, 464 pages, $34.99 Controversial theology—so popular during the Reformation—has long been out of vogue in the academy. Ecumenical correctness and norms of scholarly . . . . Continue Reading »

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