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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Paul Helm blogs monthly and substantively. A certain entry concerns the question of God’s so-called “middle knowledge” (media scientia). He writes, I’ve heard it said that many Calvinist writers currently favor some form of the doctrine of middle knowledge. I’ve also heard . . . Continue reading →
In considering the origins of idolatry, Calvin considers some theories by some pagan writers (profanos scriptores—unhappily translated in the Battles edition as “secular writers”) and the pervasiveness of idolatry even among the covenant people under the types and shadows and he concludes, “hence we may gather that human nature is a perpetual workshop of idols.” Continue reading →
The question, for Calvin and for us, is “whether the Christian man, being rightly instructed in the truth of the gospel, offends God or not, by doing as the others do when he is among Papists, by going to Mass and other . . . Continue reading →
Some of what took place in Paris beginning on August 24 can be explained by sociology and social history. There were real religious and social tensions in Paris and in Roman Catholic dominated towns in 1572. Paris itself was not yet spread out. There were about 210,000 people crowded together. Continue reading →