About Harrison Perkins

Harrison Perkins (PhD, Queen’s University Belfast; MDiv, Westminster Seminary California) is pastor of Oakland Hills Community Church (OPC), a member of the of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, a Senior Research Fellow at the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards, associate online instructor in church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, a visiting lecturer in systematic theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary, and author of Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction. Meet all the Heidelberg contributors»

Review: The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church By Matthew Barrett

The Reformation looms large as one of the pivotal moments of Western history. It stands alongside only a few other major events by which we segment the full sweep of the past two thousand years in our thought. For Christians in the . . . Continue reading →

Review: A Quiet Mind To Suffer With: Mental Illness, Trauma, And The Death Of Christ By John Andrew Bryant

Objective realities and subjective experiences are different things. They are supposed to match. In a fallen world, they often do not. John Andrew Bryant’s A Quiet Mind to Suffer With tells his story of wrestling with mental illness and coming to rest . . . Continue reading →

New Resource on the Psalms: How to Read and Understand the Psalms by Bruce K. Waltke and Fred G. Zaspel

I have long wondered why it seems hard for the psalms to get better traction in our worship services. Although some things might suggest the tide is turning, by and large the psalms seem to be met with at least disinterest, if . . . Continue reading →

Augustine Contra The Postmodernists

In Augustinian thought, signs, then play a key role in bringing us into contact with the realities they signify. Drawing lines to the Christian life, Augustine argued that catechesis means explaining how “the signs of divine realities are visible, but the invisible . . . Continue reading →

Review: Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology by G. K. Beale

G. K. Beale is rightly renowned for his skill at biblical theology, especially tracing the redemptive historical theme of creation-new creation. His work on the temple theme has fairly definitively demonstrated the connections between the creation order and the fundamentally religious orientation . . . Continue reading →

Review: More Than Heaven: A Biblical Theological Argument for a Federal View of Glorification by T. Jeff Taylor

Even Reformed theology has continually grappled with the major question concerning the relationship between good works and our everlasting condition. Even some who reject the idea that our good works contribute to our final entry into glorification have argued that they play . . . Continue reading →

Gladness In The Face Of Realism: The Singing of Restoration and Rejoicing in Psalm 126 (Part 3)

The psalter teaches us that our songs before the Lord are prayers. I do not mean that a particular passage in the psalms states that our sung praises are prayers. I mean that the psalms are clearly prayers to the Lord but . . . Continue reading →

Gladness In The Face Of Realism: The Practice of Restoration and Rejoicing in Psalm 126 (Part 2)

“Here today, gone tomorrow.” “Like the flip of a switch.” “In the blink of an eye.” “At the drop of a hat.” We have a stack of phrases to express how quickly our situations can change, even unexpectedly so. We can all . . . Continue reading →

Gladness In The Face Of Realism: An Examination of Restoration and Rejoicing in Psalm 126 (Part 1)

The Psalter is a multivalent book, giving us examples for how the godly respond to the whole spectrum of experiences that we face in the Christian life. This collection of songs contains praises, laments, thanksgivings, and so many other examples of how . . . Continue reading →