Can Baptists Be Catholic? (Part 3)

My Baptist friends give two replies to the claim that they are not truly catholic. First, they appeal to their intent to be catholic. For example, in the introduction to the Second London Confession (1689) they say: “This we did the more abundantly to manifest our consent with both in all the fundamental articles of the Christian religion, as also with many others whose orthodox Confessions have been published to the world on the behalf of the Protestant in diverse nations and cities.” Continue reading →

Can Baptists Be Catholic? (Part 2)

When the ancient church began to use the adjective catholic (universal) to describe her theology, piety, and practice, and to distinguish herself from the Gnostic, Marcionite, and Montanist cults of the second century, the best evidence is that they did not read . . . Continue reading →

Can Baptists Be Catholic? (Part 1)

Whether Baptists can be catholic is a serious question that requires a serious answer. Before we proceed, however, we must define our terms. What is catholicity? Our English word catholic is really a Greek word, katholikos (καθολικός), borrowed by English. What does . . . Continue reading →

Things Not To Say About Jesus At Christmas (Or Any Other Time)—Part 1

Like the celebrants of Festivus, Reformed folk have historically had a lot of problems with both the ecclesiastical calendar, including advent, and Christmas. It is not because we do not heartily affirm the incarnation of our Lord—we do!—but because neither the Scriptures . . . Continue reading →

Tertullian On The Trinity

In the course of time, then, the Father forsooth was born, and the Father suffered,—God Himself, the Lord Almighty, whom in their preaching they declare to be Jesus Christ. We, however, as we indeed always have done (and more especially since we . . . Continue reading →

Augustine On Christ’s Present Reign

Today is St Augustine’s birthday (354 AD). In honor of his birthday, today’s Heidelquote is by St Augustine. 3. Therefore let the Church of Christ, the city of the great King, full of grace, prolific of offspring, let her say what the . . . Continue reading →

Did Christians Teach Predestination Before Augustine?

A reader named David recently wrote to the Heidelblog to pass along a question that someone else asked of him: “What do the church fathers prior to Augustine believe about free will? I was told that all of the church fathers prior . . . Continue reading →