Daniel Houck

@jayshelt @DouthatNYT @austeni In the Thomist tradition, there are different uses of the word "evil" that complicate this discussion. It is just to cause "natural evil" in some cases. It is never just to cause the "moral evil" of sin.

@DouthatNYT @austeni To be clear (and I think we agree here): there's no such thing as a necessary evil. Read Romans 6:1! Read your Augustine! Read your Aquinas! Read your Calvin!

Just war tradition starts from the assumption that war is evil, before defining ways in which, in emergency cases, subject to six simultaneous conditions, it may nevertheless be justified. But war is not holy or blessed. It is not God’s way. Vance is twisting and distorting.

Tom Greggs delivers his inaugural lecture as Director of the Center of Theological Inquiry.

Watching tonight youtube.com/watch?v=udxloy…

Y'all know about this volume, right? Any day now.

@DriverXag @TexasPreacher Calvin does not even address the question of how many elders a particular church should have in what you’ve linked

@DanielWHouck @TexasPreacher biblestudytools.com/history/calvin…

The growing habit of speaking as though most pastors are compromised, effeminate, or cowardly sellouts is grossly misleading. Sure, many are. But most are not. Worse, when you train a whole generation to despise the pastoral office, you should not be surprised when fewer good men aspire to it. The work is already tedious & thankless, done under constant scrutiny. Painting it with such broad, dark brushes certainly won’t make the situation any better. None of this means pastors are above criticism. Some absolutely deserve sharp, clear rebuke. But most protestant pastors are good, faithful men who are doing their best to preach Christ & shepherd the flock. If we continue down this road, we will get exactly what we are already beginning to see. Fewer qualified, sober-minded men willing to take up the work, and more immature flame-throwers eager to fill the gap, chasing personal relevance & power. I'm grateful for the many pastors out there who are quietly & faithfully plodding along, and I'm especially encouraged by the caliber of young men who are studying & preparing to enter the ministry. “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.”

@DriverXag @TexasPreacher I was genuinely curious if you had any Scriptural argument to support your strong claim that “It’s outright sinful for one man to lead as pastor.” Apparently, you do not.

@DanielWHouck @TexasPreacher All he does is reference scripture

@DriverXag @TexasPreacher Where in Scripture is it prescribed?

@DanielWHouck @TexasPreacher It’s prescribed. You’ll have your masters in church polity after digesting Calvin.

@DriverXag @TexasPreacher I have nothing against reading, and I am not asking about Calvin’s Institutes

@DanielWHouck @TexasPreacher What do you have against reading? It would take me 8 hours to go through everything. Go read Calvin’s Institutes.

@DriverXag @TexasPreacher Of course. I’m asking you where you find this command in Scripture. Many practices are exemplified in Scripture without being prescribed

@DanielWHouck @TexasPreacher It’s always a sin to know God’s commandments and fail to follow them.

@DriverXag @TexasPreacher Where in Scripture is it prescribed? I’m aware of the argument that it is exemplified in Scripture and therefore is a “best practice.” But it’s another thing to argue that it is a sin not to have a plurality.

@DanielWHouck @TexasPreacher Calvin’s work is the most thorough. Read J. Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 4 Chapter 3. Also RJ Rushdoony wrote extensively about church polity.

@DriverXag @TexasPreacher That’s an interesting claim. Where is a plurality of elders prescribed, as opposed to exemplified?

@TexasPreacher God prescribes a plurality of elders and deacons leading a church. It’s outright sinful for one man to lead as pastor. And yes, this both attracts and produces effeminate men and a the highest percentage of narcissists of any profession. The model is broken. It is unbiblical.

@PlumberTadd @TerriGreenUSA It is not Check out the book Paul, Women, and Wives by Craig Keener (former Evangelical Theological Society president)

@TerriGreenUSA The prohibition on women preaching in the Church is probably one of the clearest pieces of Scripture. Why all the debate ?

There is a third way now that Christians take and it goes right through politics. Josh Howerton, Josh McPherson, Ryan Visconti and Landon Schott say they’re so over the reformed guys are in essence saying they’re so over what the Bible says about women preachers because they believe the Holy Spirit spoke to Paula White about Trump. Visconti’s wife is a pastor at his church.

@GoadGatsby Raised in McLean, living in Alexandria and working in Fairfax, I love NOVA

You hate NoVA because you hate your neighbors. I hate NoVA because it's a suburban hellscape strip malls and McMansions but there are still good people that live there. We are not the same.

Fun fact: St. Thomas was Italian, so "Summa theologiae" is actually just him saying "some theology."

@JLSteffaniak Thank you

@DanielWHouck Looks awesome

Just received my copy of the new T&T Clark Handbook of Biblical Thomism.

@johnmilbank3 Thank you

@DanielWHouck The Envy of Angels by Stephen C. Jaeger. As I have said before the entire project of a general and connected learning is the child of the cathedral schools and not originally of the universities — more narrowly vocational.

Yes there is an emergency. The Church can no longer rely on universities to uphold theology. It needs to think about setting up something like new cathedral schools. They could even shelter the generally threatened Humanities also.

@ShaneSparksBTN Agree 100%. Also, the NCAA should look at @CLAW_WRESTLING as a model. The rules incentive action, and there is action

It was an amazing tournament no doubt. With that said, no more official matside reviews and coaches get one challenge per tournament. If they are correct they get the brick back until they lose a challenge. The stoppages were out of control.

@TylerLeeConway What about the church, as a (fallible), Spirit-led arbiter? I.e., from the lack of an infallible magisterium, it doesn’t follow that only individuals judge

You can say “primary vs. secondary” all day long, but who determines even that? People debate what’s primary and secondary all the time.

If the creeds aren't sufficient (and I kinda agree. They don't spell out every application of the faith), then who exactly gets to decide what is sufficient to label someone a heretic… especially as Protestants?