This video on “white supremacy” in Western music theory recently got some attention from intelligent friends and acquaintances. It claims that Western music theory is racist—white supremacist, to be precise—for teaching only the musical style of 18th century European...
Theology
New Book—Bibliology for Beginners: What Does the Bible Say about the Bible?
Bibliology for Beginners: What Does the Bible Say about the Bible? by Mark WardI've just released a very short book on bibliology that is not intended to break new ground but rather to help beginners step firmly onto biblical ground. I wrote it at the request of a...
Answering a Question I Get All the Time: The Places to Start in Studying New Testament Textual Criticism
Updated February, 2024. I regularly get questions just like this: Mark, I am thankful for your book Authorized, which I recently finished. I currently pastor a church that is KJV-Only and I am personally reviewing that position for myself and in the future of possibly...
What is Your Position on Complementarianism and Egalitarianism?
A female professor of Christian ministry just sent me a survey to fill out. I don't consider myself an expert in this area, but I certainly have tried to be responsible—this is one of those places where the battle over truth is fiercest in my generation. Here were my...
Does “By Faith We Understand” (Heb 11:3) Have It Backwards?
A Christian friend who struggles with doubt recently wrote me asking why I chose the name of long-time blog, byfaithweunderstand.com. Today I was thinking again about those four words “by faith we understand” and I feel a physical reaction to it. It’s hard to swallow...
Christianity and Liberalism and Homosexuality
J.I. Packer’s first book, “Fundamentalism” and the Word of God, published when he was 32 years old in 1958, provides a brilliantly simple analysis of the three major approaches to Christian religious authority that were then, as now, on offer. Briefly, they were…. 1)...
Have You Ever Doubted the Christian Faith?
A young aspiring pastor recently asked other pastors in a Facebook group what kinds of doubts they’ve had about Christianity, and what they’ve done with those doubts. I replied… I went through a several-month period of doubt during my senior year as a Bible major at...
An Evaluation of the Work of Charles Surrett on Preservation
I will not and cannot discuss textual criticism with my brothers and sisters in Christ who insist on the exclusive use of the King James Version. I will discuss only vernacular translation. But there are two questions that my KJV-Only friends have consistently asked...
KJV-Only People Are Asking the Same Questions I Am about the Readability of the KJV
The UK’s Trinitarian Bible Society is one of the most serious and sober KJV-Only organizations active today. They are involved in Bible translation projects around the world. It is their printing of Scrivener’s Greek New Testament that is used in all KJV-Only...
The Allure of the Iron Cage: Reactions to Steven D. Smith’s The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse
Rcently, against my better judgment and somewhat by accident, I became involved in today’s predominant form of public discourse: an online discussion with strangers. I found myself the lone defender of the fairly straightforward idea (it seemed to me at the time) that...
Science and Religion Should Not Fight
Spurgeon quotes one “Dr. M’Cosh” in The Treasury of David, and he has eloquent and insightful things to say, centuries ago, about the war between science and religion, reason and faith: We have often mourned over the attempts made to set the works of God against the...
Christian Leaders Trip with Canyon Ministries
I just got back from a seven-day trip down two thirds of the Grand Canyon with Canyon Ministries, William D. Barrick, Terry Mortenson, and (especially) knowledgeable Cedarville University geologist John Whitmore. I gained a much deeper understanding of the geology of...