A Guide to the Journal

9Marks | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.30.2023

Since it’s unusually long, we thought a more careful guide to the Journal might help.  

Authoritarianism and Gospel Authority

A New Christian Authoritarianism?

By Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.29.2023

Creeping politicization implies a creeping authoritarianism.

What Authority Has God Given to Governments?

By Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.29.2023

The government’s job description: To administer the justice requisite for protecting human life, secure the conditions necessary for fulfilling the dominion mandate, and provide a platform for God’s people to declare God’s perfect judgment and salvation.

Say No to Christian Nationalism

By Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.29.2023

If you don’t get your doctrine of the church right, you’re going to get your doctrine of the government and the nation wrong.

Theonomy and Christian Nationalism Basics

Theonomy Primer: What Is It and How Does It Work?

By Tom Hicks | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Theonomy has a view of the gospel and of the church’s mission that goes beyond preaching Christ and him crucified and risen for the conversion of sinners and the building up of churches.

Reconstruction Theonomy vs. General Equity Theonomy

By Joseph Thigpen | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.19.2023

Several distinctions can be made among the theonomists of our day.

The Many Faces of Christian Nationalism

By John D. Wilsey | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.20.2023

In all our social media hot takes on Christian nationalism, we miss how nuanced nationalism has been in the American experience.

Theological Critique

Theonomy: Serious Theology, Serious Politics, Seriously Wrong

By Al Mohler | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Theonomy risks conflating the identity of the church and civil society as a matter of law and polity.

The Noahic Covenant’s Importance for Government

By David VanDrunen | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.18.2023

Christians’ political thinking and conduct should always reflect the fact that our governments are in covenant with God through the Noahic covenant.

Is It Possible to Be a Baptist Christian Nationalist?

By Matthew Y. Emerson | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Is Christian Nationalism compatible with historic Baptist distinctives—with credobaptist, congregational convictions?

Postmillennialism and Theonomy

By David Schrock | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.27.2023

Christ is reigning, and he will accomplish his purpose on earth as it is in heaven. But that purpose is best seen in the beautification and building up of the church in the midst of nations, not a final golden era among the nations, where all the nations are made Christian by the church’s influence.

Relating Moses’s Law to Christians

By Jason S. DeRouchie | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.20.2023

How does Moses’s law apply to believers today when so much has changed with Christ’s coming, not least of which is that we are part of the new covenant and not the old?

Four Critiques of Theonomy from Three Perspectives

A Presbyterian Perspective: The Intellectual and Sociological Origins of the Christian Reconstructionist Movement

By Ligon Duncan | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

It is not our primary purpose here to provide analysis, but to describe and define, and to supply a preliminary sketch of the theoretical and environmental origins of the Christian Reconstructionist movement.

A 1689 Baptist Perspective: Confessionalism and Theonomy

By Justin Perdue | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Confessional Baptist theology disputes theonomy in three areas.

A Progressive Covenantal Perspective: Paul and the Tripartite Division of Moses’s Law

By Joshua M. Greever | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.20.2023

Christians must call their governments to pursue and maintain a divinely-given, objective standard of morality. But Paul did not hold forth the law of Moses as this standard.

A Progressive Covenantal Perspective: Theonomy and Moses’s Law

By Jason S. DeRouchie | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.20.2023

Theonomy fails to recognize that the New Testament applies Moses’s law through Christ only to the church and never to the state.

History, Culture, and Conversations

Theonomy and Sharia Law

By Matthew Bennett | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Christian theonomy poses some of the same dangers as an Islamic state.

Culture Warriors: The Good and the Bad

By Michael Horton | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

The witness of the early church exposes us to a sort of culture warrior, but one who contrasts rather sharply from what’s usually meant by that term today.

Against Religious Establishment in Baptist Political Theology

By Nathan A. Finn | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

From the beginning of the Baptist movement in the seventeenth century, the vast majority of Baptists have rejected religious establishments as a threat to flourishing faith.

To Study History, Exercise Virtue

By John D. Wilsey | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Virtues help us to guard against the extreme vices of nostalgia and cynicism in our historical thinking as we come to grips with what it means to be an American.

Utopian Seductions

By Matthew Arbo | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Nationalist sentiment has come and gone, each time a different flavor, perhaps, but always the same recognizable brand.

John Gill on Theonomy

By Ian Hugh Clary | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Baptists who care about the integrity of their own tradition would do well to leave theonomy to the side and embrace the thinking of theologians like Gill whose thought well-represented the best of both Reformed and Baptist theology.

Government’s Two-Edged Sword

By Matthew T. Martens | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.20.2023

To what extent should the government use its coercive power to enforce Christian ethics?

Charlemagne and the Legacy of Christian Political Violence

By Dustin Asbury | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

When the church possesses coercive power, it invariably becomes warped and corrupted.

Pastoral Encouragements

The Aim of Preaching in an Increasingly Hostile Culture to Christianity

By John Piper | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 11.21.2022

John Piper was recently asked, “How can American pastors begin to prepare the churches for persecution?”

Three Building Blocks for a Christian’s Political Theology

By Kevin DeYoung | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.14.2023

Every pastor desires to see his congregation formed theologically. Part of this theological formation involves thinking through a number of questions that relate to church and state.

What Is a Greater Grief: A Compromised Church or a Compromised Nation?

By Jeremy Walker | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Which more afflicts the heart of God’s people—a morally declining country or a spiritually diseased congregation?

“God Is (Not) an Englishman . . .”

By Jamie Southcombe | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

We should never confuse God’s kindness to our home nation with the idea that nationality is his primary interest.

Baptist Covenant Theology: A Pastor’s Best Defense Against Theonomy

By Jeff Wiesner | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

In the face of today’s so-called “culture war,” Theonomy and Reconstruction teachers often take bold stands on social issues that attract anxious evangelicals. How can pastors guide and guard their sheep from possible error?

Ten Diagnostic Questions for the Potential Ideologue

By Ken Barbic | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.29.2023

Be wary of anyone who casts their political strategy and positions on less clear matters with a “thus saith the Lord” level of certainty.

How I Went Too Far with Politics

By Dave Brown | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

How do we as Christians know when we’re putting too much hope in politics?

Samples of Public Prayers Prayed by Pastors

By J. Owens, J. Sanchez, M. Dever, R. Shannon | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Read the prayers of four pastors at city, state, and national governmental gatherings.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Case for Christian Nationalism, by Stephen Wolfe

By Andrew T. Walker | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 12.09.2022

‘The Case for Christian Nationalism’ trades the beatific vision for Bible verses at the DMV.

Book Review: On Earth as in Heaven, by Peter J. Leithart

Review by Dan Darling | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

Leithart’s view of the church’s mission roots in postmillennialism, which yields not just an optimism about the future, but risks placing an eschatological and redemptive burden on Christians’ work in the world.

Book Review: Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America, by Crawford Gribben

Review by Joseph Thigpen | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.28.2023

After reading Gribben’s account​,​ one matter is clear​—​​​these are not your father’s (or grandfather’s) theonomists.

Book Review: Empires of Dirt, by Douglas Wilson

Review by Paul Alexander | 9Marks Journal: A New Christian Authoritarianism? | 04.27.2023

Precisely here is where theonomy is in danger of becoming a new legalism: demanding of the church what Jesus does not demand and what the church cannot in any case do.

Seasons in a Pastor’s Life

June 2024
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Evangelism

February 2024
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Catholicity

November 2023
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Church Planting

November 2023
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A New Christian Authoritarianism?

April 2023
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The Church’s Ministries

December 2022
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The Pastor and Church Administration

September 2022
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Pursuing Revival While Avoiding Revivalism

June 2022
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Expressive Individualism in the Church

March 2022
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Sound Doctrine: The Foundation for Faithful Ministry

October 2021
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The Ordinary Means of Grace—Or, Don’t Do Weird Stuff

July 2021
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How to Build Up Your Church: A Guidebook for Members

March 2021
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Heaven: Rejoicing in Future Glory

December 2020
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Pastoring Through Political Turmoil

September 2020
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Shepherding: The Work & Character of a Pastor

June 2020
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What’s Wrong With Gospel-Centered Preaching Today?

March 2020
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Complementarianism: A Moment of Reckoning

Complementarianism: A Moment of Reckoning

December 2019
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The Heart of the Gospel: Penal Substitutionary Atonement

August 2019
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Church Membership: Following the Lord Together

Church Membership: Following the Lord Together

May 2019
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Ecclesiology for Calvinists

February 2019
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The Pastor and Pornography

The Pastor and Pornography

October 2018
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Pastoral Burnout: Its Causes & Cures

July 2018
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Church Life: Our True Political Witness

Spring 2018
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Church Discipline: Medicine for the Body

January 2018
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The Reformation and Your Church

Fall 2017
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Church Mergers and Plants

Summer 2017
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Pastoring Singles

Spring 2017
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Healthy Churches around the World

Fall / Winter 2016
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Authority: God’s Good and Dangerous Gift

Summer/Fall 2016
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The Church Praying

Spring 2016
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Confessions, Covenants, and Constitutions: How to Organize Your Church

Winter 2016
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Missions: Adding Wisdom to Zeal

December 2015
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Multi-Ethnic Churches

Summer/Fall 2015
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Expositional Preaching

Spring 2015
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Complementarianism & the Local Church

Winter 2015
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Vanishing Church?

Fall 2014
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Biblical Theology: Guardian and Guide of the Church

Summer 2014
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The Church Singing

May–June 2014
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Prosperity Gospel

January–February 2014
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Evangelism – Part 2

November–December 2013
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Evangelism – Part 1

September–October 2013
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Is Scripture Enough?

July–August 2013
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Church and Churches

May—June 2013
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Pastoring Christians for the Workplace

March—April 2013
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Lay Elders: A User’s Guide—Part 2

Jan—Feb 2013
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Lay Elders: A User’s Guide – Part 1

November—December 2012
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Discipling in the Church

September—October 2012
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Mercy Ministry in the Church

July—August 2012
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Wanted: Apostolic Pastors

May—June 2012
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The Underestimated Doctrine of Conversion

March—April 2012
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Don’t Be Too Cool for Sunday School

January—February 2012
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Revitalize: Why We Must Reclaim Dying Churches—and How

November—December 2011
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The Pastor and his Staff, Part 2

September—October 2011
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The Pastor and his Staff, Part 1

July—August 2011
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Church Membership: Holding the Body Together

May—June 2011
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Church and Parachurch: Friends or Foes?

March—April 2011
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Pastoral Moves

January—February 2011
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Book Reviews on the Mission of the Church

November—December 2010
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Hell: Remembering the Awful Reality

September—October 2010
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Pastoring Women

July—August 2010
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Journal about Deacons

Deacons

May - June 2010
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A New Evangelical Liberalism

January—February 2010

Church Discipline (Part 2)

November—December 2009

Church Discipline (Part 1)

September—October 2009

Missions

July—August 2009

Multi-site Churches

May—June 2009

Young Pastors

March–April 2009

Raising Up the Next Generation of Pastors

January–February 2009

Counseling in the Church

November–December 2008

Family & Parenting

September–October 2008

Marriage & Pastors’ Wives

July—August 2008
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Living As a Church

May–June 2008

Cooperation

March–April 2008

Corporate Prayer

January–February 2008

Church & Culture

November–December 2007

Race and Ethnicity

September—October 2007

The Gospel

July–August 2007

Preaching

May–June 2007

Elders (Part 2)

March–April 2007

Hospitality & Friendship

January 2007

Elders (Part 1)

February 2007

Biblical Theology

November–December 2006

The Church’s Mission

October 2006

The Emerging Church

September 2006

Miscellaneous Articles

December 1999