by Peter James | Nov 14, 2024 | Theodore Frelinghuysen
Leaders of the Dutch Reformed Church of the Netherlands offered Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1691-1747) an intriguing proposal. They needed a young, enthusiastic minister to lead four small churches in Raritan. Theodorus assumed Raritan was an adjoining Dutch...
by Peter James | Nov 13, 2024 | John Austin
People say, “Seeing is believing.” Not according to poet George MacDonald. “Seeing is not believing,” he said, “it is only seeing.” John records in his gospel an account of a man born with congenital blindness (John 9). Jesus restores his physical sight, which later...
by Peter James | Nov 12, 2024 | Sarah Williams
We have turned the Good Samaritan parable into a mushy morality tale. You know, be like the Good Samaritan and show kindness to people. We have tamed this provocative short story and blunted its subversive impact. Make no mistake, when Jesus first spoke this parable,...
by Peter James | Nov 11, 2024 | Josephine Butler
British Parliament passed the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1869 to stop the spread of venereal diseases, especially among the Royal Navy. The law afforded police broad powers to arrest and detain any women suspected of prostitution and subject them to degrading...
by Peter James | Nov 10, 2024 | Henry Lyte
He seemed ill-suited to pastor a church in a remote fishing village along the English coast inhabited by sailors earning their living from the sea. While sailors had minimal education, he was a first-rate scholar and accomplished poet. He brought his extensive library...
