Dr Paul Allen

A rendition of Huldrych Zwingli from the 1906 edition of the ''Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The training of Zwingli for his life-work differs considerably from that of Luther . This difference affected their future work, and accounts in part for their collision when they met as antagonists in writing, and on one occasion (at Marburg) face to face, in a debate on the real presence. Comparisons are odious when partisan or sectarian feeling is involved, but necessary and useful if impartial. Both Reformers were of humble origin, but with this difference: Luther descended from the peasantry, and had a hard and rough schooling, which left its impress upon his style of polemics, and enhanced his power over the common people; while Zwingli was the son of a magistrate, the nephew of a dean and an abbot, and educated under the influence of the humanists, who favored urbanity of manners. Both were brought up by pious parents and teachers in the Catholic f...

Dispute of Jesus and the Pharisees over tribute money (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The world is a seducer. It seeks to attract our attention and our devotion. It remains close at hand, visible and enticing. It eclipses our view of heaven. What is seen vies for our attention. It entices our eyes, preventing us from watching for a better country whose builder and maker is God . It pleases us—much of the time, anyway— and, alas, we often live our lives to please it. That is where conflict ensues, for pleasing the world seldom overlaps with pleasing God. The divine call is this: "Do not be conformed to this world" (Rom. 12:2). But the world wants us to be partners with it. We are urged to participate in the fullness of it. It presses on us with the ultimate peer pressure. Remember the anxiety we all experienced as teenagers? Our self-worth, our esteem, was measured by one magic word, a single all-encompassing standard: popularity. To be "conformed" to this world is ...