Donald L. Brake writes of John Wycliffe, ?Wycliffe?s determination to make the Bible available to every layman in the vernacular was linked to the biblical teaching that everyone is answerable for his own deeds and responsible for personal faith in Christ? (Brake, A Visual History of the English Bible, Baker Books, 2008, 47). Wycliffe is often referred to as ?The Morning Star of the Reformation? because although he lived almost 200 years before the Protestant Reformation, many of his beliefs and teachings closely matched those of Martin Luther, John Calvin and other Reformers. In this sense he was ahead of his time.
     It is said that Wycliffe (spelled in various ways) was the first to translate the Bible into English. Because he lived almost a century before Gutenberg invented the printing press, his New Testaments and Bibles were hand-written manuscripts. Wycliffe is also often credited with being the inventor of bifocal glasses, rather than Benjamin Franklin. Historians debate this. But many inventions are developed independently, therefore it may be that both men should be credited.
     One of the first scholars to argue for the translation of the Bible into the vernacular (common tongue), Wycliffe completed his translation from the Latin Vulgate into English in the year 1382. But did Wycliffe work alone? Most scholars believe he did not. Some go so far as to question whether Wycliffe translated any of the Bible that bears his name.
     W.R. Cooper, in his ?Introduction? to The Wycliffe New Testament, 1388 (The British Library, 2002, transcribed by W.R. Cooper into modern spelling), begins by saying the assumption that Wycliffe was solely responsible for his translation should be ?easily forgiven,? as most believers are ?not well acquainted with the history of the English Bible.? Cooper than explains that Wycliffe?s ?lifetime of preaching and writing inspired a group of his followers (Lollards) to render the Bible into English? (Cooper, Introduction to The Wycliffe New Testament, The British Library, 2002, v). Scholars are yet unsure as to what portions of the manuscripts, if any, Wycliffe himself translated from the Latin Vulgate and recorded (by hand) onto manuscripts.     

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Vol. 41, No. 8  - August 2010

In his book, From Tyndale to Madison (B&H Publishing, 2007), Michael Farris refers to the personal debate between John Calvin and Michael Servetus. In fact, he devotes an entire chapter (?Defending a Doctrine, Killing a Man,? chapter 8) to religious liberty, or the lack of it, in Calvin?s Geneva, because whether we like it or not, ?Geneva, Switzerland, played a vital role in the development of English and American concepts of religious liberty? (Farris, 81). However, it is not John Calvin?s ideas on religious liberty Farris underscores, but those of an associate of Calvin, Sebastian Castellio, who took a pivotal stand for religious liberty, placing his own life in jeopardy by doing so. Indeed, Castellio had to use the pseudonym ?Martin Bellius? to avoid arrest. This was because ?when it came to the liberty of the individual to worship God as he wished - in Geneva or elsewhere - Calvin was an adamant opponent in both theory and practice? (Farris, 82). Farris explains:

Calvin did not face pagans who forthrightly called for the worship of foreign gods; rather, his concern was with professing Christians who dared to hold a doctrine he found to be heretical. He told his Geneva congregation, ?There is a man that goes about to pervert the truth through fond devotion; and to turn it into untruth: the same man ought to die? - along with idolaters, blasphemers, Muslims, and other deviant individuals [from John Strype, Memorials of the Most Reverend Father in God, 1694, 144; see Early English Books Online].

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Vol. 41, No. 71978 ? July 2010

Many of these authors echo basically the same things Gilley does. For example, in the latter portion of his forthcoming book, Evangelicalism: What Is It and Is It Worth Keeping? (Crossway, November 30, 2010), D. A. Carson critiques Mark Noll?s book, Is the Reformation Over? An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism (Baker Academic, 2008). Carson argues the issues that gave rise to the Protestant Reformation are still not settled.

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Vol. 41, No. 6 June 2010

Relatively few Christians today have what might be termed a high ?biblical and theological I.Q.? Many believers regularly read the Bible, but few take the time or make the effort to really study the Bible, using basic Bible study tools such as a Bible dictionary and concordance. Even fewer tend to engage in any serious biblical and theological research, even in the context of writing a research paper for a Bible class in a Christian college. The major reason for this is such an effort entails at least browsing through quite a few books, and then carefully reading a sizeable chunk of those books, all the while taking notes and discovering the titles of yet other books which the diligent student will also want to consult and weigh the perspectives of the authors.

Some people tend to think professors and academics who lived centuries ago, long before our current information age, an age in which if one wants to know whether a certain book is available for purchase, all he or she has to do is go towww.amazon.com and key in the title or author, and through the modern technology of the Internet find an amazing collection - the equivalent of Books In Print - accessible in just a few clicks. Not having the kind of data we have at our fingertips today, the assumption is our ancestors were simply not even as intelligent as a modern fifth grader.

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One of the most crucial questions facing believers is whether or not there remains in the heart of the person who has come to a saving faith in Christ an inward corruption, inclination or ?bent? toward sin. How we answer this question is affected by, but also affects, our understanding of the biblical doctrines of justification and regeneration, as well as the biblical teaching on sanctification and the possibility or degree of holiness God expects of us as believers in this life. Also playing a key role in how we answer this question is our understanding of the biblical teaching on the doctrine of sin.

 In an article which appeared in the Wesleyan Theological Journal (Vol. 1, Spring 1966) Leo Cox wrote a review on ?Sinin Believers.? Cox sought to ?analyze? some of the discussionson this subject found in a handful of books and journal articlesat that point in time. His first of three major points in hisarticle was stated this way:

 Sinfulness in the believer must be distinguished from the state of sinfulness existent in the unbeliever. It is possible to place the standard of the regenerate life so high that only entirely sanctified people can live it, or allow it to fall so low that believers are ?miserable sinners still.? It is very important that clarity be attained at this point (Cox, ?Sin in Believers,? Wesleyan Theological Journal, Vol. 1, Spring 1966, 27).

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For many years there has been debate among evangelicals as to the orthodoxy of the ?Local Church? movement of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Watchman Fellowship, an organization which monitors cults, occultists, and other groups involved in alternative spirituality, states that the ?Local Church? movement is a controversial movement which began in China in the early 1920s by Ni To-sheng (Watchman Nee). There was much growth, but controversy developed during the leadership of the group?s second leader, the late Witness Lee, who moved to America in 1962 and established the ministry?s publishing arm, Living Stream ministry. Among the theological issues drawing criti cism from evangelical believers are the Local Church?s use of the term ?mingling? to describe the relationship between God and believers, specifically, the idea that Christians become both divine and human like Jesus. Some evangelicals have also charged the Local Church compromises the doctrine of the Trinity by confusing the persons of the Holy Spirit and the Son in a way similar to modalism (see Watchman Expositor, Index, at http://www.watchman.org/cat95htm#L).

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Over twenty years ago EMOS was asked to help put together what was termed a ?systematic? Christian education and equipping program for a suburban evangelical church. For many years prior to that request, we had been investigating and being advised of what a number of churches, particularly evangelical churches, were doing in terms of fulfilling and/or developing their church?s overall educational and equipping ministries. We had also spent a considerable amount of time talking with the publishers, editors and writers of Sunday school and discipleship literature and programs, as well as Christian education professors and directors of Christian education in local churches. We were aware of several innovative programs in different churches, that were basically very similar. We had discovered that although many evangelical churches had some rather unique, but definite, ideas about what they wanted to do in terms of the scope of their church?s education and equipping ministries, there was really no general curriculum being published which completely met everyone?s goals in this context, and thus many churches were developing their own curriculum to fit and fulfill their needs.

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During the last two decades, evangelicals have defended the biblical teaching that God created the universe, challenging Darwin?s theory of evolution and the idea that because of evolution there is no need of God as the Creator of man, or as the Creator of anything else.

 However, while the biblical story of the creation of the universe and man in Genesis 1 and 2 does not necessarily demand a young earth/universe or old earth/universe perspective, some evangelical believers dogmatically argue the careful student of Scripture has no other option except to understand the Bible, in Genesis and elsewhere, as teaching a young earth/universe position. In other words, the age of the earth and the universe is not to be numbered in millions of years, much less billions, but in thousands, likely 10,000 years or less.

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Vol. 41, No. 1 - January 2010

There have been many quotations and references made to David Well's No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? (Eerdmans, 1994) by the authors of many books. There have also been many similar books in which the authors have sought to communicate basically the same truth, namely, that traditional evangelical theology is being or has been replaced in many places where it once thrived. Perhaps worse, evangelical theology is thought to yet survive in many places where what actually is present is but a reflection of the truth which was once held dear.

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Part of Dr. L. Kip Wheeler?s coverage of medieval literature at Carson-Newman is a three-page handout summarizing ?oneiromancy and dreams.? What is oneiromancy? It was the practice, quite common in the Middle Ages, of seeking to determine the future by means of one?s dreams. This practice has also been very much a part of both ancient and modern astrology, the New Age movement, and even some groups and individuals one might describe as being on the fringes of Christianity and, as well, some within the faith. In Wheeler?s handout he states:

 Medieval sleepers had to be very cautious. Dreams might be a message from God, or they could be the result of eating too many turnips. The clever interpreter had to know the differences from biblical precedents (Dr. L. Kip Wheeler, see his homepage at http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/index.html).

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