Free: Petrus van Mastricht on Preaching

Petrus van Mastricht (1630–1706) wrote one of the most important, most mature theological works the period of high orthodoxy (which has nothing to do with the new pot laws in Colorado and Washington State), the Theoretico-Practica Theologia. Todd Rester, who translated and . . . Continue reading →

Was There a Mainstream of Reformed Orthodoxy?

It’s being argued (on discussion lists and in private emails) that there was never any mainstream of Reformed theology in the 16th and 17th centuries. The proof? Some cat or other emails to say, “here’s an sentence from this important 17th century . . . Continue reading →

Classic Reformed Texts in English Translation

prepared by Patrick J. O’ Banion M A. (Westminster Seminary California), 2001 Orthodox Reformed Writers Available in the Early English Books (all reel numbers are from the 1475-1640 series unless otherwise noted) Alsted: The beloved city: the saints reign on earth for . . . Continue reading →

It’s Never Been About Civil Rights

The Late Modern War Against Nature

(HT: Mike Opelka) In this video, Lesbian activist Masha Gessen makes explicit what’s been known underground in the homosexual community for a long time: Homosexual marriage is not about civil rights. It never has been. Camille Paglia exposed that story in the . . . Continue reading →

The “Calvin As Tyrant Meme”

For a fellow who has been dead since 1564 and for a movement that, socially considered, is little more than a demographic blip (about 500,000 people in North America) Calvin and Calvinism continue to receive a remarkable amount of attention in the . . . Continue reading →

Recovering Nature

Helping Millennials to Look Beyond the Screen

Until very recently presidents and presidential candidates, even if they didn’t believe it, had to say that they were in favor of marriage as historically understood and opposed to homosexual marriage. Now, they don’t. What changed and how did that change come . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 18: Is It Okay To Steal (If The Minister Says It Is?)

Heidelcast

A correspondent writes to about an Anglican minister who advised the poor, who are starving, who’ve somehow fallen through the extensive British social safety net, among his congregation, to shoplift rather than commit burglary. He asked them not to steal from small . . . Continue reading →

“Common” is Not “Neutral”

An HB Classic

One of the more frequent criticisms of the attempt to appropriate the older Reformed “two kingdoms” (or as Calvin put, “a twofold kingdom”) approach to Reformed ethics for a post-Constantinian setting, as distinct from the “transformationalist” or some versions of neo-Kuyperianism, is . . . Continue reading →

Who Was Franciscus Junius?

Todd Rester, at the newly-founded Junius Institute, (HT: Jordan Ballor) explains: Franciscus Junius (1545-1602) is a significant figure in the development of Reformed theology in the era of early Reformed orthodoxy. Junius studied under John Calvin in Geneva, pastoring churches throughout Europe . . . Continue reading →

Complaint By Ruling Elder Gerald Hedman to SJC in the Leithart Case

Complaint To Dr. Roy Taylor, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. And now, this fourteenth day of May, A.D. 2012, comes RE Gerald Hedman and complains against the action of Pacific Northwest Presbytery on April 27, . . . Continue reading →

Why “Nice” Is Such An Impotent Category

The news is filled with comments made by people who knew the Boston Marathon bombers that they were “nice”, regular people. They cannot believe that the Tsarnaev brothers could be violent. This is not the first time we have heard such observations, . . . Continue reading →