Regular readers of this space will know how often I have warned about the problems of Wikipedia. The truth about Wikipedia is that it is not a reliable resource. I warn my students that if they cite it in their research they have . . . Continue reading →
III. The question is not whether all infants are to be baptized or not; for, according to the will of God, some are not to be baptized, even such whose parents are strangers from the covenant. But hence it will follow that . . . Continue reading →
Correspondents regularly ask me for a list of recommended readings. I produced one years ago which I updated just today. Continue reading
…All of the items Plutarch mentions—adultery not least—are scourges that undercut the very fabric of society. It is a sad fact that some dads don’t know this, or don’t care; it is positively shocking that Michigan’s attorney general seems not to, either. . . . Continue reading →
Contrary to what some Dispensational writers have claimed the Christian church, in the post-apostolic period, has always taught covenant theology. The Epistle of Barnabas (c. AD 120) wrote a fairly mature covenantal explanation of the history of redemption, the unity of the . . . Continue reading →
Individual monomania is rarely a social problem. One person who is obsessed with butterflies or with a particular celebrity, or who sees everything in sexual, economic, or religious terms, is just an eccentric, although sometimes a tiresome one. The monomaniac may suffer . . . Continue reading →
For those of us who love Reformed theology and are interested in its modern development, Geerhardus Vos (1862–1949) is a significant figure. He spent most of his career, at Princeton Seminary, reforming and developing what had come to be known in the . . . Continue reading →
This episode (#274) begins the 13th season of Office Hours. This semester Westminster Seminary California began its 41st year and the original primary purpose is still the primary purpose: to prepare men for pastoral ministry. It is the seminary’s conviction that it . . . Continue reading →
Episode 8 of the Christianity Today podcast, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,” illustrates the degree to which the restless, feather-swallowing (according to Luther) anti-canonical spirit has influenced modern evangelical theology, piety, and practice. The Reformation principle (if not always its practice) . . . Continue reading →
Christianity offers the best news in the world. The gospel declares that through faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the forgiveness of our sins. With this assurance of God’s love, comes the promise that we receive a citizenship in heaven, a home . . . Continue reading →
The largest NAPARC denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is in the throes of an identity crisis. Founded by Southern Presbyterians and emerging out of the old PCUS (the Southern version of the Presbyterian mainline) it has always been more more broadly . . . Continue reading →
I am not going to quote this article on the Heidelblog because some of the language in it is not fit for a family publication.
I am catching up Christianity Today’s podcast series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. The August 30, 2021 episode, “Questioning the Origin Myth: A Rise and Fall Short Story,” centered around what, in Reformed theology, piety, and practice, we call the internal call to ministry. In our understanding of Scripture and its outworking in the life of the church there are two aspects to the call to ministry, the internal and the external. Continue reading →
Obviously we all have an interest in Covid, the vaccine, and treatments. It is beyond difficult for most of us to sort through the welter of information, to determine what is genuine and what is propaganda. Continue reading
The question before the Civil War, and even today for Americans as we consider our past and deal with contemporary racial issues is, “What does the Bible teach about American slavery?” Long before the Civil War, Reformed Presbyterians answered that both the custom of Christendom and the Bible condemned American Negro slavery as fundamentally wrong and immoral. It was based on manstealing, a sin against the eighth commandment and a capital crime under Mosaic Law. It rested on a racial line of separation that denied the Bible’s teaching that God made all men of “one blood.” Continue reading →
Of course, we are all apt to exaggerate the importance of our own times. But I venture to think that the present position of the Church… is more critical and perilous than it has been at any period during the last two . . . Continue reading →
We the physicians of the world, united and loyal to the Hippocratic Oath, recognizing the profession of medicine as we know it is at a crossroad, are compelled to declare the following; WHEREAS, it is our utmost responsibility and duty to uphold . . . Continue reading →
By May, at the risk of violating state truancy laws, Wrobel had stopped fighting and let her kids log on (or not) whenever they felt like it. It was, she said, “the darkest hour before dawn.” That September, she started homeschooling. She . . . Continue reading →
Polycarp (Πολύκαρπος), whose name might be translated as fruitful was the leading pastor (ἐπίσκοπος) of Smyrna (today, Izmir, Turkey) on the Agean coast of Asia Minor. We do not know a great deal about his life. He was friends with Ignatius, the pastor of Antioch, who was (presumably) martyred about AD 115. Continue reading →