Dr Paul Allen

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” ( John 9:4 ) It is striking how often the Lord Jesus used the term “must” in connection with the different aspects of the work He came to do. Since He is our example, we also must be serious and urgent about our Father’s work. Even as a boy in the temple, He told His parents, “I must be about my Father’s business” ( Luke 2:49 ). Then early in His ministry , as He went from place to place, He said, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent” ( Luke 4:43 ). Toward the end of His earthly ministry, He said one day, “I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem ” ( Luke 13:33 ). He also said to His disciples that “he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” ( Matthew 16:21 ). He ha...

Image via Wikipedia Anselm held the position of archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. A Benedictine monk , philosopher, and theologian, he stands as one of the most significant thinkers in the history of the Western church . His influence is not due to the sheer volume of his writings but to his ability to expound profound subjects biblically and thoughtfully in just a few words. In general, the assumption exists that to make a significant contribution to the body of literature that shapes scholarly thought requires the production of massive tomes. Anselm’s impact completely overthrows this notion. His thought has had far-reaching consequences, even to this day. Anselm, more than any of the other thinkers of antiquity, plumbed the depths of the substitutionary, satisfaction view of the atonement. In his book  Cur Deus Homo  (Why the Godman?), he saw the work of Christ on the cross as an act of propitiation by which Jesus satisfied the demands of God ’s jus...