At the same time Hobbes was putting forth in England his theory regarding the absolute authority of a secular ruler, Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was in the Netherlands doing something very similar. Spinoza is actually seen by many to be one of the first men to advance what is called “historical criticism” of the Bible. At…
Almost 150 years after the publication of The Prince, another book of tremendous influence was published in 1651 AD: Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan. Hobbes’ political outlook and aims regarding Church/State relations closely resembled those of Machiavelli, in that he grounded his outlook upon a presuppositional materialistic worldview. Like Machiavelli, Hobbes believed that it was a huge…
Even though the waves of reform in the 11th and 12th centuries had swept much of the corruption out of the Catholic Church, by the 1400’s the Catholic Church had once again been steeped in corruption at the hands of highly political and degenerate popes, not to mention the Borgia and Medici families who gained…
Three years ago [Check that…FIVE years ago], Bill Nye “the Science Guy” and Ken Ham debated each other at the Creation Museum. The topic of the debate was this: “Is Creation a Viable Model of Origins in Today’s Modern Scientific Era?” By that time, I was already pretty convinced that young earth creationism was not…
If it seems I have been too harsh regarding the Protestant Revolution, I want to explain the reason. I am assuming that most of my audience is predominantly Protestant/Evangelical. Therefore, the common narrative found within the Protestant tradition about the roots of Protestantism is that of a glorious “coming out of the Catholic dark,” led…
Along with Martin Luther, John Calvin is perhaps the most well-known Protestant revolutionary/reformer. Born in 1509, Calvin was a mere eight years old when Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. As a teenager, Calvin must have witnessed firsthand the disintegration of religious world around him: the crumbling of the Catholic…
Yes, I know, that is quite a provocative and scandalous headline for a post, isn’t it? It’s one thing to take issue with Ken Ham’s claims about science or his interpretation of Genesis 1-11, but should we really question his belief in the resurrection of Christ? Isn’t that to essentially do the very thing so…
Despite my labeling Martin Luther’s movement as the Protestant Revolution, Luther was not originally looking to actually start a religious revolution. He truly wanted to reform very real abuses in the Catholic Church. Yet as things turned out, eventually his fiery personality (not to mention his rather vulgar tirades) led to, not only a full-out…
Similar to his understanding of authority and Scripture, Luther’s understanding of salvation was also affected by his over-reaction to the admittedly distorted teaching of the Catholic Church of his day. The Catholic Church was teaching that although salvation came through grace and faith in Christ, that there were certain things that human beings could (and…
Last summer, when I came out with my book, The Heresy of Ham, I made it a point to send a copy to Ken Ham at the Creation Museum. Not surprisingly, I never heard back from him. But every now and then I wonder if he leafed through my book—his most recent blog post is…