About R. Scott Clark

R. Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. Read more» He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

Office Hours: Where Are They Now? Planting Reformed Churches In Italy

R. Scott Clark

on April 2, 2018

Westminster Seminary California has been preparing men to enter pastoral ministry since 1980. More than 1,100 students have graduated and about 70% of them are preaching the gospel across the globe, making hospital calls, doing the work of an evangelist, and a . . . Continue reading →

Woman, Why Are You Weeping?

R. Scott Clark

on April 1, 2018 | 6 Comments

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and *saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other . . . Continue reading →

HT501 Introduction to Historical Theology (Fall 2018)

R. Scott Clark

on March 30, 2018

Course Description and Objectives: This course is designed to introduce graduate students to skills, practices and research trends in contemporary historical theology. Over the last fifty years the discipline of intellectual history, a subset of which is historical theology, has been at . . . Continue reading →

New In Print: Calvin—Subtle Sacramentarian Or Loyal Son? John Calvin’s Relationship To Martin Luther

R. Scott Clark

on March 30, 2018 | 7 Comments

In October of 1545, Heinrich von Wolfenbüttel (1489–1568), the Romanist Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneberg-Wolfenbüttel, in the process of a attempting to recover lands taken from him by the Protestant Schmalkald League (in 1542), was taken captive along with his sons. The Lutheran territories . . . Continue reading →

The Three Stages Of Error In The Church

R. Scott Clark

on March 30, 2018 | 12 Comments

When error is admitted into the Church, it will be found that the stages of its progress are always three. It begins by asking toleration. Its friends say to the majority: You need not be afraid of us; we are few, and . . . Continue reading →

The “Opium Of The People” And The Opioid Crisis (2)

R. Scott Clark

on March 29, 2018 | 7 Comments

The late-modern period is a a time of disillusionment in the West and perhaps nowhere else is that disillusionment more acute than in America where, since at the least the early 20th century, the false promises of Modernity (human perfectibility, the universal . . . Continue reading →

The “Opium Of The People” And The Opioid Crisis

R. Scott Clark

on March 28, 2018 | 12 Comments

I have been thinking some lately about Karl Marx (1818–83). Now, it has been a few decades since I have read Marx but I did read him a fair bit in University as an undergraduate. I think my various Political Science professors . . . Continue reading →

The Burning Of The Wooden Shoes (Update)

R. Scott Clark

on March 27, 2018 | 27 Comments

The most disturbing part is that many seem completely oblivious to the shifts. Among a new generation of Reformed pastors and churchgoers, there seems to be little awareness that the project they are pursuing, and the shifts they are pushing, have already . . . Continue reading →

Conventional Wisdom, Science, Frogs, And The Mob

R. Scott Clark

on March 23, 2018 | 24 Comments

I first became aware of the story of the frog in the kettle when I read George Barna’s 1990 book, The Frog in the Kettle: What the Christian Community Needs to Know About Life in the Year 2000 (Ventura, CA.: Regal Books, . . . Continue reading →

Where Were The Church And The Truth Between The Fathers And The Reformation?

R. Scott Clark

on March 21, 2018 | 17 Comments

Johnny Carson was a kid from Nebraska, who hosted The Tonight Show from 1962–92. One of his more famous recurring gags was Carnac the Magnificent, ostensibly a magician—Carson had a magic act as a high school and college student—who was able to . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours With Joel Kim On Thankfulness, Humility, And Confidence (2)

R. Scott Clark

on March 19, 2018 | 2 Comments

January 9, 2018 was a big day in the history of Westminster Seminary California. On that day the seminary welcomed distinguished visitors from across the globe as we celebrated the inauguration of the 4th president in the history of the seminary, Joel . . . Continue reading →

Machen: The Revisions Of Christianity Made To “Save” It Actually Destroy It

R. Scott Clark

on March 17, 2018 | 5 Comments

…But in showing that the liberal attempt at rescuing Christianity is false we are not showing that there is no way of rescuing Christianity at all; on the contrary, it may appear incidentally, even in the present little book, that it is . . . Continue reading →

Fulfilling The Great Commission In Cape Town

R. Scott Clark

on March 16, 2018 | 8 Comments

Guest post by the Rev. Simon Jooste, church planting pastor in Cape Town, South Africa. Reformed Church Southern Suburbs (RCSS) began as a Bible study of Reformed Church Bellville (RCB) in April 2012 with Rev. Jooste and his family in Rondebosch, Cape . . . Continue reading →

The Gods And Debaters Of “This Age” Die

R. Scott Clark

on March 14, 2018 | 11 Comments

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of . . . Continue reading →

Construction Update 13 March 2018: Almost Done

by R. Scott Clark on March 13, 2018

This gallery contains 3 photos.

What Changed?

R. Scott Clark

on March 12, 2018 | 1 Comment

At my suburban public school, fistfights were not uncommon. Blood flowed on school playgrounds when pick-up basketball games got out of hand. For those a bit older, there were bar fights and alleyway rumbles. I was born in 1959, and a vast . . . Continue reading →

The Emperor Has No Clothes But He Does Have A Sex

R. Scott Clark

on March 9, 2018 | 1 Comment

First, though, let us address the basic assumption of the contemporary parade: the idea that exchange of one’s sex is possible. It, like the storied Emperor, is starkly, nakedly false. Transgendered men do not become women, nor do transgendered women become men. . . . Continue reading →

The Psychologized Self And Identity Politics

R. Scott Clark

on March 8, 2018

The notion of oppression was once understood in terms which were at root economic. In Britain, the trade union movement grew out of a desire to see more economic parity between classes. In America, nineteenth-century abolitionism and the civil rights movement of . . . Continue reading →

Baptists And Federal Visionists Together?

R. Scott Clark

on March 8, 2018 | 28 Comments

Let us define our terms. A Baptist is someone who believes that baptism is only validly administered to professing believers. He denies that the infant children of believers are the proper subjects of baptism. A Federal Visionist is someone who, among other . . . Continue reading →

Rachael Denhollander To SGM On The Spiritual Dangers Of Tribalism

R. Scott Clark

on March 6, 2018 | 18 Comments

Not only has there been no loving but firm pressure to submit to accountability and openness, the very dynamic I warned about in the Christianity Today article has been repeated. My gospel presentation and offer of forgiveness to my abuser was heralded . . . Continue reading →

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