John Mark Hicks

The Reformation in a nutshell: We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone as taught by Scripture alone. • Grace alone (sola gratia) means that God took initiative, supplies grace for every good work, and completes God’s work in us, and this includes a cooperative […]

Zechariah, a priest who returned with other Babylonian exiles to Jerusalem in 537 BCE, appears before the people in 520 BCE as a prophet. “The word of the Lord” comes to Zechariah—he is given a message from God to the people. Zechariah sees himself in line with the former prophets with a similar message, a […]

Handel’s Messiah is a musical proclamation of the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God. My wife and I, along with my sister-in-law Melanie Crotty, attended the Nashville Symphony’s performance of the Messiah last Friday evening. We used this to celebrate Melanie’s graduation from Lipscomb’s Hazelip School of Theology. We were all enthralled with the presentation. George […]

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] God called Israel to guide the nations […]

Yes, it is true. I wrote articles for Contending for the Faith, edited by Ira Y. Rice, Jr., in the late 1970s. Ira Y. Rice, Jr. was a good friend of my father Mark N. Hicks. Ira would stay in our home, it seemed, at least once a year. He would either hold a meeting […]

This is quite daring, I must admit. Or, it might be rather idiotic. But in my quest to place my published writings on this webpage, I now turn to the 1970s.  It is rather chilling and sometimes quite illuminating to actually read what I wrote thirty years ago (wow! I really am that old). It […]

Some are worthwhile, some are not; or, at least, some are more worthwhile than others.  🙂  You will have to be the judge. “Ministerial Education,” Magnolia Messenger 11.6 (June 1989), 11, 14. Building on J. W. McGarvey’s article on ministerial education (Lard’s Quarterly, 1865, 239-250), the piece argues for a liberal arts education plus additional […]

One last post on spiritual or contemplative reading of Scripture….I think. Afterwards, I will take a weekend break from blogging to enjoy some time with my wife. “Praying the Psalms” has been a intermittent habit of mine. Sometimes I have devoted myself to it and at other times I have laid it aside. As I […]

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was enriched by attending a session on contemplative spirituality at Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration led by Randy Harris, Rhonda Lowry and Gary Holloway.  In this post I will describe how Gary Holloway reminded me of the ancient practice of Lectio Divina which has been part of my spiritual meditations off […]

Last Friday, July 4, I attended a session on contemplative spirituality led by Randy Harris, Rhonda Lowry and Gary Holloway at Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. These three along with Jackie Halstead lead a seminar on deepening spiritualitysponsored by New Wineskins.  I have not yet participated in the program but I know some who have. I have […]