In the best of times pastoral ministry is a challenging vocation. After all, one of the first duties of a faithful minister is to announce bad news in public. Pastors are among the first to hear when something has gone wrong in the congregation, when someone has become seriously ill or died. Ministry has become even more difficult during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading →
This episode (#274) begins the 13th season of Office Hours. This semester Westminster Seminary California began its 41st year and the original primary purpose is still the primary purpose: to prepare men for pastoral ministry. It is the seminary’s conviction that it . . . Continue reading →
When most of us think about the great Reformed theologians we probably think of John Calvin. Perhaps we think of John Owen, and Charles Hodge. If we think a little harder we might think of Zacharias Ursinus, who gave us the Heidelberg . . . Continue reading →
Much of modern evangelical theology, piety, and practice, is not driven by Scripture as much as it is driven by history. Many evangelicals assume, as I once did, that the altar call is a biblical practice. They do not know, as I . . . Continue reading →
Leaving a congregation and accepting a new call is one of the more difficult parts of pastoral ministry and yet that is what Professor Jason Barrie has done. This month he joins Westminster Seminary California as Associate Professor of Practical Theology to . . . Continue reading →
As the man said about the Grateful Dead, academic year 2020-21 has been a “long, strange, trip.” For part of the year we have been online only and for part of the year we have been in hybrid mode, with some of . . . Continue reading →
One of the goals of Office Hours is to let the listener know about the work of the faculty in the classroom and in the study. For more than a decade I have had the privilege of editing a series of English . . . Continue reading →
From England to the United States, to New Zealand, to Australia, and back to the USA. That’s been Dr Nick Brennan’s journey over the last 11 years. April 2021 finds him assuming his new position as Associate Professor of New Testament at . . . Continue reading →
The Bible is a big book. That’s what J. I. Packer told us seminary students in 1987. He was right. Not only that but it was written over 1,500 years, in three different languages, in multiple settings, under multiple governments, by multiple . . . Continue reading →
If you are of sufficient age, you remember when Caitlyn Jenner was Bruce Jenner, one of the greatest Olympic Athletes in modern history. He won the gold medal in the Decathlon in the 1976 Olympics. If you are a little younger you . . . Continue reading →
2 Kings 17:1–23 gives an overview as to why Israel and Judah were exiled. The very short story is that the Old Testament church turned their back on the God who had delivered them out of Egypt. Nevertheless, the same gracious and . . . Continue reading →
Kim Riddlebarger is an outstanding figure in the contemporary Reformed world for a few reasons. You might know him as the co-host of the White Horse Inn for 25 years and contributor to Modern Reformation magazine or you might also know him . . . Continue reading →
Chuck Tedrick is no stranger to Office Hours. He first appeared on Office Hours in 2009, season 1, episode 3, as a student at Westminster. Then he appeared in season 8, episode 22. Before coming to Westminster he studied at BIOLA University . . . Continue reading →
The beginning of the Fall semester for the academic year 2020–21 marked the beginning of the 40th year of Westminster Seminary California. In 1980 we were in an office complex in San Marcos, CA and in the fall of 1984 we began . . . Continue reading →
Forty years ago this fall semester, Westminster Seminary California welcomed its first incoming class of students. Our founding faculty members began to retire about 20 years ago. Now some of our second generation faculty have retired or been called to serve the . . . Continue reading →
When we recorded the first episode of Office Hours in the Summer of 2009, podcasting was rather new. We had to manage carefully the size of the podcasts because most of our listeners were still using dial-up connections to hear the podcasts. . . . Continue reading →
Few Bible interpreters in the history of the church have been as prolific and influential as John Calvin (1509–64). Love or hate him, one cannot ignore him. He wrote commentaries upon much of Scripture. As a humanist, he was a careful, sensitive, . . . Continue reading →
Steve Baugh has been teaching Greek and New Testament at Westminster Seminary California since 1982. When he enrolled as a Master of Divinity student in 1982, the campus was located in San Marcos, CA, in an office building. We did not move . . . Continue reading →
A shameless rip off of the famous BBC radio series, Desert Island Discs, where the host asks famous Britons about the albums they would want with them on a deserted island, in season 3 I asked my faculty colleagues which books they . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed churches, confessions, and theologians have a high doctrine of the Holy Spirit. From the earliest days of the Reformation the Reformed devoted much time and energy to the person and work of the Spirit but they did so in a . . . Continue reading →