East Hampton was originally settled by the best sort of men, and had never been divided in religion. There was only one church in place, over which three successive pastors had been settled during a period of a century and a half. The first was Rev. Mr. James, the terms of whose support were forty-five pounds annually, lands rate free, grain to be first ground at the mill every Monday, and one fourth of the whales stranded on the beach.
Pastors are busy. I know; I was one. They hardly have time to prepare their sermons every week while at the same time visiting, counseling, planning, fixing, etc. Ask most pastors what good theology books they've read recently and you'll be greeted by blank stares....
In the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518 Martin Luther set forward his radical new theology publically for the first time. This prompted two significant responses. First, the Strasbourg reformer Martin Bucer became a follower of Luther, and second, Johann Eck was moved...
Demonizing opponents is (unfortunately) a common practice in churches where the leadership is making sweeping changes that are opposed by some in the congregation. Those who oppose the changes, the pastor tells the congregation, are just like the Pharisees in Jesus'...
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