Showing results by author "Douglas Wilson" in All Categories

Longtime pastor Douglas Wilson takes a hammer to some of our very favorite graven images, and (surprise, surprise) we've set up display cases for most of them in our churches: liturgy, tradition, systematics, infant baptism, and that crafty old Baal doctrine. Alongside a critique of philosophical assumptions about human nature, dualism, and grace, Wilson stresses the unavoidable and absolute necessity of individual hearts being born again. He concludes by laying out the case for the church.

Even though America is fiercely divided between the left and the right and protests are becoming increasingly violent, both sides of the political aisle remain committed to secularism and increasingly to looser standards of sexual propriety. If we want to understand contemporary American culture wars, we must first come to grips with the culture wars of the 19th century. In this book, Douglas Wilson explains how our nation's failure to remove slavery in a biblical fashion has led us to many of the quagmires we find ourselves in.

The so-called New Atheists have a great deal of moral indignation at all the evil in the world, but, as apologist and theologian Douglas Wilson cheerfully points out, they have no moral basis for it whatsoever. If we are merely the result of billions of years of matter in motion, then why do we feel that concentration camps, genocide, apartheid, and the like are so obviously wicked and despicable, if in fact such events are just time and chance acting on matter?

In the beginning, great power is only great potential... Renowned for both martial and arcane skills, the mighty warcasters of the Iron Kingdoms possess the unique gift of bonding with and commanding mighty warjacks on the field of battle. Yet despite their inborn abilities, these powerful soldier-sorcerers began as novices, forced to harness their talents in rigorously structured military training programs or through the brutal crucible of battle.

America's first poet, Anne Bradstreet, wrote poems regularly for her family's private enjoyment. But in 1647, unbeknownst to Anne, her brother-in-law set sail for England with a manuscript of her poetry. Upon his return, he presented her book to her: The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. Anne was thoroughly embarrassed but also pleased. Subsequent generations have valued her gifts as a poet as well, and her poetry remains in print to this day.

Many Christian parents oppose our godless American culture, but how many of us are willing to put our money where our mouth is? In this spicy but short book, Douglas Wilson calls for Christian parents to remove their kids from public schools. Beginning with the commands in Scripture for parents to raise up their children in the “fear and admonition of the Lord”, he shows that parents cannot and should not send their children to be catechized by unbelieving teachers and peers.

So begins a dark, but sturdy epic full of warriors, dragons, monsters of the deep, mead halls, and mounds of treasure. Beowulf is the great Norse epic poem, and one of the great inspirations for J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. In this bold and truly innovative translation, Douglas Wilson reproduces the alliteration and stresses of the original, though being more dynamic with particular wording.

Stephen Monroe is a young, zealous patriot, proud of his brother William, who is a distinguished captain in the Revolutionary War. The one thing Stephen can’t understand is how his brother can kill Redcoats but despise the fiery words of other revolutionaries like Thomas Paine. When Stephen meets Lieutenant William Morris, he thinks he has found someone even more patriotic than his brother. Caught between two Williams, Stephen must realize there are two wars going on, and he must choose between his brother’s or Lieutenant Morris’.

It's election season - America's most lucrative sport - and there are no rules. When climate scientist Dr. Helen Gardner accidentally reads an email from the International Task Force on Climate Change which proves that global warming is a lucrative scam, she's shocked and horrified. But that's nothing compared to how she feels the next day when her boss (the head of the Task Force) tries to have her killed. Helen goes into hiding with the help of her neighbor, a "fundy" Bible college professor named Cody, and an anti-eco-activist lumberjack-writer.

Once captured and enslaved in Tripoli, Thomas Watson has escaped at last and vowed never to return. Susannah Wilcox secretly longs for adventure and is thrilled when she is sent to Naples to finish her education. Jules Monroe is freeborn but longs to prove to himself and the wider world that he is a man, out on the sea with his cousin Samuel. Their stories all meet in 1803 aboard the Philadelphia, a 36-gun frigate. Unfortunately, the ship has fallen into the hand of Barbery pirates, and such a powerful weapon will allow them to decimate the United States’ fledgling navy.

You can sin with food in many ways: by not sharing it, but eating way too much of it, or by throwing it across the restaurant table, for example. But you do not sin with food by bowing your head over it, saying grace with true gratitude in your heart, and tucking in. Sharp-edged but humorous, Confessions of a Food Catholic addresses the unscriptural approach to food that many Christians have developed in recent years. (By the way, a "food catholic" is somebody who accepts all eaters of all foods, even if the food catholic himself doesn't actually eat quinoa.)

When John Monroe saves a mother and daughter from the clutches of a rogue English soldier, he is thrust into a world of intrigue and espionage. It’s the height of the French and Indian War. In possession of a letter that exposes British troop movements, John must race to deceive the French before the rogue soldier can catch up to him and provide the actual intelligence the French need.

Music is far more central to our lives than we perhaps assume. We come into contact with music all the time—sometimes explicitly as in worship, and sometimes implicitly as with the background music in restaurants that you scarcely notice, and other times explicitly (but still thoughtlessly), as with the music that many have loaded on their iPhone.

Doug provides a primer to help understand and respond to the infinitely elastic sexuality demanded by nihilistic evolutionary postmodernism. Once you deny God and reality, sexual identity is free to be defined however we want. These and other issues are addressed in this short series of punchy pamphlets. These bite-size guides—digestible in a sitting or two—are great introductions to cultural hot topics.

In this audiobook, Pastor Douglas Wilson takes on the unpopular question of PKs (pastors' kids) and pastoral qualifications.

CAUGHT IN AN EMOTIONAL WEB Does your friend have a verifiable brain tumor . . . or hallucinations of little pink spiders? Empathy demands that you accept “his truth” and feel his distress as keenly as he does. And get as stuck as he is in his delusions. Douglas Wilson examines the empathy trap and calls us to anchor our love for our neighbor in objective truth. Only then can we remain free from the web ourseives and offer effective help to others who are caught. It’s time to shine the light of the gospel into the cobwebby corners of our culture and send the spiders scurrying.

Honor's Voice provides a revealing look at how Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States and one of the greatest men of his time. Douglas Wilson traces the development of this great leader from an insecure country boy full of ambition to schoolboy, storekeeper, riverboat man, and, finally, politician. The author returns to original sources, including friends and acquaintances in the Illinois of the 1830s and '40s and exposes truths about Lincoln never before revealed.

In Five Cities that Ruled the World, theologian Douglas Wilson fuses together, in compelling detail, the critical moments birthed in history’s most influential cities —Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and New York. Wilson issues a challenge to our collective understanding of history with the...

In this collection of essays, Douglas Wilson talks about one of the most beloved Christian writers of the 20th-century: C.S. Lewis. Lewis was the kind of writer who, whether you agree with him or not, will edify and sharpen you. Douglas Wilson discusses everything from Lewis's odd images of salvation in The Last Battle to Lewis's view of creation to his take on Heaven, Hell, and education.

YOU BECOME WHAT YOU WORSHIP The law of God is not an arbitrary list of rules, selected at random by an arbitrary God. Rather, the law of God is a reflection of His character, and as we are in the process of becoming more and more like Him, imitating Him as dearly loved children (Eph. 5:1), we should make a point of studying His law. In Fire on the Mountain, Douglas Wilson examines that law as summarized in the Ten Commandments. He invites the reader—by faith—to look through the commandments as a window in order to behold the grace of the God who gave them. Douglas Wilson has been the ...