The sum and whole cause of the writing of this epistle is to prove that a man is justified by faith only; which proposition whoso denieth, to him is not only this epistle and all that Paul writeth, but also the whole . . . Continue reading →
October 2013 Archive
Carl And Todd Are Not Nice
So far the best thing about the Mortification of Spin podcast has been the occasional appearances—an odd word for a aural medium—of Aimee Byrd. One of these days she might just roller-skate right over to Philadelphia and then whammo! Certainly they are proving . . . Continue reading →
On The Wisdom Of Screens
Until very recently, if I mentioned screen and church in the same sentence one would have thought of a rood (Saxon for “cross”) screen, which separates the nave from the chancel. There, in the chancel, is the altar and the choir in . . . Continue reading →
Monuments Of Idolatry
There was also presented to the Assembly, a new Paraphrase of the Psalms in English meter, which was well liked of and commended by some of the members of the Assembly; But because we conceived that the Psalm Book in all the . . . Continue reading →
Political Pluralism And Public Prayer
When we allow evangelicals to pray as evangelicals, Catholics to pray as Catholics, Muslims to pray as Muslims, Jews to pray as Jews, we are not undermining political pluralism in our democracy, we’re upholding it. That’s why these prayers are not an . . . Continue reading →
An Aggressively Inarticulate Generation
(HT: Sung Yeo)
Mortimer Adler On How To Read A Book (And Why)
Few books are as needed today as Mortimer Adler’s How To Read A Book. It might be an encouragement, however, before you read, or while you’re between chapters, to watch Adler and Charles Van Doren talk about different ways to read and . . . Continue reading →
Pervasive Unbelief In The PCUSA
All this is true. But it really does not apply to the situation in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The point is that Church is very largely dominated by unbelief. It does not merely harbor unbelief here and there. No, it . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: The Lordship Controversy Is Back
This is season 5 of Office Hours and we’re talking about sanctification: New Life In The Shadow Of Death. In this episode, Mike Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, and I time travel to the “Lordship Controversy” that raged . . . Continue reading →
Standard Reformed Polemics Against The Use Of Musical Instruments In Worship
But all light into, all perceptions of, this glory, all experience of its power, were, amongst the most, lost in the world. I intend, in all these instances, the time of the Papal apostasy. Those who had the conduct of religion could . . . Continue reading →
Rural North County: Palms and Plows
This gallery contains 7 photos.
Heidelcast 45: What’s New About The New Covenant? (Pt 2)
In this episode, part 2 of 2, we look specifically at what is new in the new covenant. Here’s part 1. Jeremiah 31:31–34 looks forward to four future blessings in the new covenant. The New Testament takes up those categories and elaborates . . . Continue reading →
The Psalms Are Transcultural
(HT: Leon Brown)
The Church’s Closed Canon By The Latter Half Of The Second Century
This is enough to show that it is quite wrong to contend that there was no concern for marking out or keeping inviolate the contents of the new covenant Scriptures in the second century, or to claim that there was no generally . . . Continue reading →
A Bibliography of Historical Theology and Historiography
Note: This bibliography is intended to alert HT students to the existence of some important and/or useful works for students of historical theology. I have omitted standard and older works in church history (e.g., Schaff) and reference works, since they are available . . . Continue reading →
Chronology Of The Medieval And Reformation Church
Drafted c. 1995. Last revision, 2024. § 1100 c. b. Peter Lombard (1160). Magister Sententiae). 1155–58 Lombard publishes Sententiarum libri quatuor (Sentences in Four Books), which will be mandated in at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) as the standard textbook for theology . . . Continue reading →
The Avignon Papacy
Avignon Rome Pisa 1305 Clement V 1316 John XXII 1328 Nicholas V* [1328–30] 1334 Benedict XII 1342 Clement VI 1352 Innocent VI 1362 Urban V 1370 Gregory . . . Continue reading →
Cromwell: Simul Iustus Et Peccator
Judging by his serene expression, he certainly doesn’t look like a man who should have changed England’s politics, culture and history forever. I refer to Oliver Cromwell and his expression preserved for the ages in his death mask on display at Warwick . . . Continue reading →
Has The Church Replaced Israel?
It is a common canard among Dispensationalists that Reformed theology must teach that the church “replaces” Israel. They call this “Replacement Theology.” That must is what is known as an a priori, something that someone “knows” before they’ve actually looked at the . . . Continue reading →
Laura Smit On The Foolishness Of Romantic Dreams About The Mainline
Some of my friends in the CRC seem to think that this would be a good thing. They speak to me with wistful longing about the “freedom” of the PCUSA. This is a romantic vision that is unrelated to the truth. The . . . Continue reading →