…Yet I dissent from Chalk’s genealogy of modernity. He goes on to argue that this notion of the autonomous, emotivist self can be traced to Martin Luther. In part this is because Chalk depends upon Jacques Maritain’s Three Reformers: Luther, Descartes, Rousseau . . . Continue reading →
Author Archives: R. Scott Clark
What’s Going on Right Now: Sex, Race, Politics, & Power with Dr. W Robert Godfrey (5)
In this fifth session of Dr. Godfrey’s Sunday school class at the Escondido URC, he traces the long period of challenges to Christendom within Christendom, and the rise of the Enlightenment, which thought Christianity to be too focused on the world to come, . . . Continue reading →
Let Us Pray
The Supreme Court of the United States has just finished hearing arguments in Dobbs v Women’s Health. Continue reading
How To Handle A Divisive Person In The Church
As society is presently ripped apart with divisions on every issue, the church is likewise bombarded with divisive people who are using the current cultural divide to mimic the culture and tear apart the body of Christ. Christians have to be acutely . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page On Social Media And Wikipedia
In a very short period of time, social media has become one of the dominant forces in our age. Who does not have a social media account of some kind? Your Grandmother knows how to use Facebook and teens use and switch social media platforms the way they choose fashions, rapidly. Every social media platform, however, is a trade-off. We use them to connect with friends and to communicate but the social media platforms are using us at the same time. They are ostensibly “free” but that is because we, the users, are the content. Continue reading →
Another Reason Not To Rely On BigSocMedia
Twitter’s new CEO has introduced new rules which would appear to create an opportunity to de-platform certain views out of favor with our BigSocMedia overlords. Continue reading
Again, They Are Coming For Your Children Spiritually, Ideologically, And Intellectually
Incensed parents now make news almost daily, objecting to radical material taught in their children’s public schools. But little insight has been provided into the mindset and tactics of activist teachers themselves. That may now be changing, thanks to leaked audio from . . . Continue reading →
Ninth Circuit Postpones Vaccine Mandate For Prison Workers
A federal appeals court temporarily blocked a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for California prison workers on Friday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request for a stay of a lower court order from September pending an appeal, delaying the January . . . Continue reading →
On Whose Record Will You Stand?
Just pause and think of what it meant for the Lord Jesus to obey for us, in our place. For thirty years he never once said or did anything wrong. More than that, at every single moment he positively said and did . . . Continue reading →
What Does It Mean To Be “Confessional” (E.g., In The PCA)?
Becoming Self-Consciously Confessional When I was introduced to Reformed theology, piety, and practice I do not think that very many people were talking about being “confessional.” Indeed, the idea of creeds (e.g., the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed etc) confessions (e.g., the . . . Continue reading →
The Canons Of Dort In Swahili
The Three Forms of Unity are now in Swahili. The third of the forms, the Canons of the Synod of Dort are now translated into Swahili. Continue reading →
The First Huguenot Thanksgiving In 1564 At Ft Caroline (Florida)
In 1562, Jean Ribault, a naval officer under Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and a Huguenot, began a voyage to the land that is now southeastern United States. He established a colony on Parris Island, South Carolina called Charlesfort. The settlement failed in . . . Continue reading →
First Amendment Liberties Wounded: Baronelle Stutzman Forced Out Of Business
“We’re all in trouble – whether we’re religious or not—when we don’t have the freedom to live consistent with our faith and our beliefs, when I don’t have the freedom to run my business according to my beliefs, live my life according to my beliefs” Continue reading →
With Back To The Reformation Podcast Taking About Politics And The Church
The question of how Christians should relate Christ (i.e., their allegiance to Christ and the Christian faith) to culture is perhaps the most pressing challenge facing the Christians individually and the institutional, visible church. A subset of this question touches on how . . . Continue reading →
In Defense Of The Bible Belt
One can imagine fewer complaints from the South if her critics held everyone over the fiery pit like one of Edwards’s unfortunate spiders, and did so with equal contempt. But there seems to be a bit of socio-theological dissonance at play. On . . . Continue reading →
They Are Still At It
People assume (as I once did) that since the Martin Luther (1483–1546) first protested the abuse of indulgences, in 1517, that Rome must have been shamed into ending the practice. She was not. The sale of indulgences continues. In §1471 of the Catechism . . . Continue reading →
A Canary In The Cultural Coal Mine
Rasanen and Pohjola are being charged with “hate speech” for respectively writing and publishing a 24-page 2004 booklet that explains basic Christian theology about sex and marriage, which reserves sex exclusively for within marriage, which can only consist of one man and . . . Continue reading →
Federal District Court Judge Suggests That Military Personnel Denied Religious Exemption From The Covid Vaccine May Have A Case Under RFRA
Whether characterized as a facial challenge or as a class of precisely similar as-applied challenges, requiring only a single judicial determination, the plaintiffs’ contention is—based on current data—quite plausible that each branch’s procedure for requesting a religious exemption is a ruse that . . . Continue reading →
Loco Or In Loco Parentis?
Christina Wyman has published an OpEd on NBCnews.com in which she argues that parents who insist on influencing the education of their children do not understand how education actually works. She observes that the latest crisis, focused on the schools in Loudon . . . Continue reading →
An Unusually Thoughtful Podcast: Presbycast On When Church Became Theatre
The Presbycast is one of my favorite podcasts and Harrison Perkins, a regular contributor to the Heidelblog, is one of my favorite writers and, in this episode, like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, the two come together: They are discussing Jeanne Halgren Kilde’s . . . Continue reading →