In response to an article in USA Today on multi-site churches, in which Redeemer Presbyterian (NYC) was featured, Tim Keller offered a brief clarification of Redeemer’s version of the multi-site model.1 As part of that explanation he articulated a premise that strikes . . . Continue reading →
Author Archives: R. Scott Clark
POPLL: An Alternative To Christian Nationalism (And Theonomy, Christian Reconstruction, Theocracy, And Christendom) (Pt 2)
The second stage of active citizenship is organizing. Just as we pray for the well being of society, so also we work for it. This is a more important step than one might think because Christians too often simply assume that the . . . Continue reading →
The Moralist’s Catechism
Moralism is the teaching (doctrine) that God approves (accepts or justifies) of us either because we have cooperated with his grace (semi-Pelagianism) or because we have kept the law without his help (Pelagianism). According to moralism, God approves of us because of . . . Continue reading →
POPLL: An Alternative To Christian Nationalism (And Theonomy, Christian Reconstruction, Theocracy, And Christendom) (Pt 1)
As part of an essay on the attempt by the U. S. Postal Service to compel a man to violate his religious convictions by forcing him to work on the Christian Sabbath, I offered an alternative to a variety of popular but . . . Continue reading →
The Heart Of The Matter
This is now the third essay to address the problem of falling pastors. In the first two attempts I focused on the importance of pastoral wisdom as they seek to serve and protect the sheep.1 In the second I pointed to the . . . Continue reading →
Circumcision And Baptism
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith . . . Continue reading →
Review: Concise Systematic Theology: An Introduction To Christian Belief. A Revised and Enhanced Edition of Salvation Belongs To The Lord By John M. Frame (Part 3)
There are other, perhaps related questions that arise under this heading. For example, is the logical order of the application of redemption by the Holy Spirit (the ordo salutis) merely a “pedagogical device”? (229) Such a conclusion would surprise all the Protestant . . . Continue reading →
The Covenant Before The Covenants
Those not well read in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Reformed theology might be forgiven their ignorance of the covenant of redemption or for concluding that it is an arcane doctrine long abandoned. Continue reading →
How It Happens And Why Church Government Matters
The other day in class, I was to lecture on the Marrow Controversy (c. 1700–1733) but as I listened to what the students were discussing (while I was getting the tech set up) and as I scanned their faces, I could see . . . Continue reading →
Sacramentos divinamente instituídos
Às vezes, os defensores do catolicismo romano, inquiridores e até mesmo docentes nas catedrais britânicas e europeias deixam a impressão de que a Reforma se infiltrou na igreja e roubou cinco sacramentos antigos quando ninguém estava vendo. Isso é completamente falso. Não . . . Continue reading →
Sempre abusando de semper reformanda
As igrejas reformadas têm alguns slogans maravilhosos que são repletos de verdades importantes. Às vezes, no entanto, esses slogans podem ser mal interpretados, mal comunicados e mal compreendidos. Com a possível exceção de Sola Scriptura (a Escritura somente), nenhum desses slogans foi mais frequentemente deturpado com maior prejuízo do que ecclesia . . . Continue reading →
Has The Forensic Eclipsed Christ?
A friend pointed me to an interesting video (the link is now dead) by a WSC alumnus, Lane Tipton. The video is meant to be a discussion of Calvin and his doctrine of justification. I was quite pleased to hear Tipton say, . . . Continue reading →
Review: Concise Systematic Theology: An Introduction To Christian Belief. A Revised and Enhanced Edition of Salvation Belongs To The Lord By John M. Frame (Part 2)
We have considered his method, but what about Frame’s theological conclusions? Where the classic Reformed theologians typically defined theology as something that exists in God and which is accommodated to us creatures and revealed in analogues to us, for Frame, theology is . . . Continue reading →
Mas, isso é bíblico?
Anthony Bradley postou um ensaio provocativo argumentando que a plantação de igrejas é insuficiente para a mudança social. Ele apela à sua própria experiência e à história da educação e da Cristandade. O seu texto levanta algumas questões e faz outras. Primeiro, . . . Continue reading →
Os Cânones de Dordt
Todo mundo conhece o acróstico TULIP, mas nem todos sabem de onde vem essa sigla. Os Cânones de Dordt estão entre os mais famosos, mas não lidos, veredito de qualquer Sínodo Reformado. Os cânones são mais de cinco letras. Os cânones ensinam . . . Continue reading →
Reformado & Pentecostal?
James K. A. Smith tem uma interessante postagem na Christianity Today: Teaching a Calvinist to Dance.[1] Neste texto ele diz que anseia por um “tipo de espiritualidade reformada ‘pentecostalizada’”. Ele continua a vincular a sua busca com a de Edwards. Isso pode . . . Continue reading →
Having Babies, Malthus, And Confidence In The Lord
The baby cried with hunger and Maria unwrapped her swaddled newborn (a girl!) in order to nurse. In the next room Giovanni beamed with pride. He could not stop smiling. It had been a while since he or anyone in the village . . . Continue reading →
Review: Concise Systematic Theology: An Introduction To Christian Belief. A Revised and Enhanced Edition of Salvation Belongs To The Lord By John M. Frame (Part 1)
This volume was originally published under another title in 2006. It began as a series of lectures given in 2004, and it carries a number of strong endorsements from Reformed and evangelical luminaries, not the least of which is the foreword by . . . Continue reading →
Christian Tribalism And Loyalties In A Super-Heated Culture War
The noun tribe has no fewer than six senses in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).1 The first is the literal sense of a biological lineage—that is, a “group of people forming a community and claiming descent from a common ancestor; spec. each of . . . Continue reading →
As It Was In The Days Of Noah (32): 2 Peter 1:16–21 (Part 3)
Last time, we saw from verse 19 that God has given us his sure prophetic Word as we wait for the rising of the morning star—the objective return of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Continue reading →