2015

Among Protestant practitioners of spiritual disciplines, the Oxford Holy Club developed one of the most famed regimens. The group, initiated by Charles Wesley in 1728 and supported by his brother John, included other luminaries like George Whitefield, John Clayton, and Benjamin Ingham. This society — also dubbed “the Methodists” — encouraged pious acts such as…

When the next Star Wars movie comes out, go to a showing and talk to 20 people standing in line. You’ll hear 20 different stories about the first time they saw the movies — one a 12-year-old with his brother, another a 7-year-old at the cinema for the first time, another a ’90s kid watching…

When John R. Sampey was named president of Southern Seminary in 1929, he inherited a brand new Lexington Road campus with $992,000 in related debt (about $13 million in today’s money).1 Only a few months later, a stock market crash initiated the Great Depression. Fortunately for the seminary and the denomination, Sampey was a capable…

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary sits nestled in the Crescent Hill neighborhood of Louisville. The large trees and beautiful homes gives the area surrounding Southern a warmth beyond its property lines. “If someone handed you a map of the city of Louisville and said to pick a great location to place Southern Seminary, you couldn’t…

EDITOR’S NOTE: In what follows, Denny Burk, professor of biblical studies at Boyce College, and Heath Lambert, assistant professor of biblical counseling, discuss their new book, Transforming Homosexuality, with Towers writer Annie Corser. AC: Why did you pursue writing this book together? DB: My initial concern was driven by things I was seeing in evangelical Christianity, in which we…

Transforming Homosexuality: What the Bible Says About Sexual Orientation and Change Denny Burk and Heath Lambert (P & R Publishing 2015, $9.99) The gospel ultimately demands a heart change from homosexuals, Boyce College professors Denny Burk and Heath Lambert write in their new book Transforming Homosexuality. Burk, a professor of biblical studies at Boyce, and Lambert, executive director…

The Owlings: Book Two, Daniel A. DeWitt (Theolatte Press 2015, $10.99) Review by Annie Corser The Owlings is a series of worldview novellas written for younger readers to introduce them to big worldview truths. Boyce College Dean Dan DeWitt wrote this series to explain deep worldview topics in an accessible format. The first book in the series…

Sir Winston Churchill is widely regarded as the greatest leader of the 20th century. Born in the splendor of Blenheim Palace on Nov. 30, 1874, Churchill’s life would span the most decisive years of the transition into the modern world. Though faced with great adversity — and driven by a titanic self-confidence — he would…

Fifty years after his death, Winston Churchill remains the epitome of a bold and successful leader. Co-author of the recent God & Churchill, the British Prime Minister’s great-grandson Jonathan Sandys discusses the marks of Churchill’s leadership and why he provides hope for leaders today, especially those who fail. CS: What defined Churchill’s leadership? JS: When…

Winston Churchill is one of the most quoted leaders of all time, yet many modern citations put words in the lion’s mouth. You’ve probably heard this one: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen” (looking at you, RG3). As Churchill himself…

The unmistakable visage of Colonel Sanders has experienced a public resurgence courtesy of a new mass-media marketing campaign cooked up by the KFC fast food company. Recent commercials have raised the question as to whether the Colonel’s mantle can be carried adequately by a single actor, thus necessitating a group of famous comedians passing the…

Six months after his parents moved from California to Uruguay with the International Mission Board in 1990, Steven Kunkel stopped speaking. His parents first thought their one-year-old son had culture shock, but knew something else was wrong when Kunkel did not speak for nearly three years. When Kunkel was 4, his father took him to…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Below, Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Seminary, discusses his book Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification with Towers writer Andrew J.W. Smith. AJWS: As we approach the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, do you think the Lutheran understanding of justification “by faith alone” still holds…

Faith Alone: The Doctrine 
of Justification, Thomas R. Schreiner (Zondervan 2015, $19.99) Review by Andrew J.W. Smith The doctrine of justification is just as important in the 21st century as it was five centuries ago, writes Thomas R. Schreiner in his latest work, Faith Alone. The book explores salvation by grace through faith from a…

God & Churchill, Jonathan Sandys and Wallace Henley (Tyndale Momentum 2015, $26.99) Review by S. Craig Sanders Sir Winston Churchill is widely regarded as the greatest leader of the 20th century, but biographers have often struggled to identify what exactly set Churchill apart from his contemporaries besides his at times lone opposition to Adolf Hitler. In…