October 16, 2025
Podcasts
In the first edition of The Hive, I recommended the opening episode of a podcast series called The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God. In view of Reformation Sunday, check out another excellent episode from that series called More Than Mythology that explains why we can stand on “Sola Scriptura” with confidence that the Bible is true. You’ll be encouraged.
One of our featured speakers at New Life’s fourth annual Apologetics Conference on “Christianity and the Arts” is Russ Ramsey. For a small taste of some of what you might hear, listen to Ramsey being interviewed about his book, Rembrandt Is in the Wind, on the Think Biblically podcast back in 2022.
Articles
Speaking of the Apologetics Conference, here’s an article by R. C. Sproul on the source of beauty.
Despairing Over the Culture? There's Still a Reason to Get Out of Bed Tomorrow
On October 23, I’m leading a colloquium at Indianapolis Theological Seminary over a book by Carl Trueman called Strange New World. In this book, Trueman explores the factors that have shaped and are shaping our current culture and considers some ways the church can respond. Avoiding both naïve optimism and faithless despair, we can live in hope by remembering that the purposes of God’s kingdom extend beyond the horizons of our own individual lives, and even beyond the horizons of this present age. But those kingdom purposes will, in fact, be realized and so, as Trueman writes in this article, we have a reason to get out of bed.
The 6W Chronicles: Brief Profiles in Church History
As a way to introduce readers to some influential figures in the church’s past, the 6W Chronicles briefly address six questions: Who? When? Where? What did they do? Why should we know about them? What works can I reference by or about them?
Most of us are familiar with pioneering Protestants like Martin Luther and John Calvin, but there’s an often forgotten Swiss reformer who also made important contributions to the reformation.
Who? Ulrich (sometimes spelled Huldrych) Zwingli.
When? Ulrich Zwingli was born on January 1, 1484 (less than two months after Martin Luther’s birth) and died on Oct. 11, 1531.
Where? Zwingli was born in the Swiss region of Wildhaus and eventually served as an influential reforming minister in Zurich.
What did he do? Unlike Luther who was trained in theology and lived in a monastery, Zwingli received a more humanist education and was ordained to serve as a local parish priest in 1506. Through his studies of the Greek New Testament, Zwingli, like Luther, became convinced of the sufficiency and sole authority of Scripture. In 1518, a year after Luther’s 95 Theses were posted, Zwingli was appointed to serve as the priest at Grossminster (“the big church”) in the city of Zurich. It was while in Zurich that Zwingli implemented his most important reforms. When his 67 Articles received the backing of the Zurich city council, he began to depart from many of the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. For example, he began delivering expository sermons, ended fasts during Lent, lifted marital restrictions on the clergy, dissolved monasteries, and simplified the worship liturgy. At the invitation of Prince Philip of Hesse, Luther and Zwingli met at Marburg in 1529 in an attempt to unify the German and Swiss protestant movements. While the two agreed on 13 of 14 issues, they could not come to an agreement about the nature of the Lord’s Supper, causing the two branches to remain separate. Without support from the German Lutherans, Zwingli sought to secure freedom from Roman Catholic cantons in Switzerland by going to war. He was killed in battle, sword in hand, at Kappel at the age of 47.
Why should we know about him? Zwingli’s efforts to reform the church were continued after his death by his successor, Heinrich Bullinger, who would draft the Second Helvetic Confession. Additionally, his influence would make its way to Geneva with the work of John Calvin, and from there spread internationally. In this way, Zwingli’s contributions to the Protestant Reformation deserve recognition and appreciation. Geoffrey Bromiley notes in his entry in Who’s Who in Christian History: “Apart from his contribution in his own immediate area, Zwingli was in fact the pioneer without whom Reformed and Presbyterian theology and order could not have developed in the way they did.”
Works? Zwingli’s writings are not as numerous, well-known, or influential as Luther’s or Calvin’s. His sermon on the duties of pastors called “The Shepherd” delivered in 1523 made a major impact, and his 67 Articles can be accessed online.
Quotes
“The providence of God provides all things, orders all things, upholds all things; for, of two sparrows bought for a farthing, one does not fall to the ground without the providence of God, who has numbered the very hairs of our heads. His care and watchfulness surely do not diminish when the object for which God cares is small or insignificant.” – Ulrich Zwingli in The Christian Education of Youth
Consider these words in the context of our current politically polarized climate.
“Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's first feeling, 'Thank God, even [my enemies] aren't quite so bad as that,' or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black.”
Two Final Thought
May I never forget on my best day that I still need God as desperately as I did on my worst day.
Eighty-five percent of Americans cannot do basic math. I’m thankful I’m part of the other 25%.