Ancient Church

Audio: With Rick Wiles On Reformation And The Creeds

by

• R. Scott Clark

on July 29, 2015

I talked with Rick Wiles on Monday. The show is Trunews and it is heard on radio stations all over America, across the globe, and on the web at TruNews.com. We discussed the problem of the fracture of the church, how to . . . Continue reading →

The Shepherd Of Hermas Is A Dull Novel

by

• R. Scott Clark

on July 24, 2015 | 2 Comments

Dr. Bunsen calls it “a good but dull novel,” and reminds us of a saying of Niebuhr (Bunsen’s master), that “he pitied the Athenian3 Christians for being obliged to hear it read in their assemblies.” —F. Crombie, “Introductory Note to the Pastor . . . Continue reading →

Jerome On Monepiscopacy: The Triumph Of Pragmatism Not Principle

by

• R. Scott Clark

on July 16, 2015 | 2 Comments

The presbyter is the same as the bishop, and before parties had been raised up in religion by the provocations of Satan, the churches were governed by the Senate of the presbyters. But as each one sought to appropriate to himself those . . . Continue reading →

Augustine On Justification, Salvation, And Assurance

by

• R. Scott Clark

on May 19, 2015

Our predestination is not wrought in ourselves, but in secret with Him, in His foreknowledge. But we are called by the preaching of repentance. We are justified in the calling of mercy and fear of judgment. He feareth not judgment, who hath . . . Continue reading →

Fifth-Century Church: Instruments Were For Moses

by

• R. Scott Clark

on May 19, 2015 | 2 Comments

Q: If songs were invented by unbelievers with a design of deceiving, and were appointed for those under the law, because of the childishness of their minds, why do they who have received the perfect instructions of grace, which are most contrary . . . Continue reading →

The Didache Calls Abortion Murder

by

• Heidelblog

on March 3, 2015 | 4 Comments

You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion . . . Continue reading →

What Do We Mean When We Say “Holy Catholic Church”?

by

• R. Scott Clark

on January 3, 2015 | 2 Comments

Clinton writes to ask what we mean when we say, in the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe a holy catholic church.” He reports that some of his friends will not read the Apostles’ Creed, the Athanasian Creed, or the Heidelberg Catechism because they . . . Continue reading →

A Seventh-Century Opinion On Every-Member Ministry

by

• R. Scott Clark

on January 2, 2015 | 17 Comments

It does not befit a layman to dispute or teach publicly, thus claiming for himself authority to teach, but he should yield to the order appointed by the Lord, and to open his ears to those who have received the grace to . . . Continue reading →

A Brief History Of Christmas

by

• R. Scott Clark

on December 24, 2014 | 4 Comments

CHRISTMAS The Feast of the Nativity of Christ was called in OE Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ; the first appearance of this term in extant writing dates to the 11th cent., and parallels Dutch Kerst-misse. (The Latin term Dies natalis lies . . . Continue reading →

Contra Natalis Solis Invictis

by

• R. Scott Clark

on December 24, 2014 | 14 Comments

CHRISTMAS (from Old English Cristes maesse “Christ’s mass”).† Observance commemorating the birth of Jesus. In the Western church, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord was first celebrated on December 25 ca. A.D. 336, the date apparently chosen to counter the . . . Continue reading →

Chiliasm And Soul Sleep

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 7, 2014 | 14 Comments

Our study began with Irenaeus’ contention that the belief in an immediate removal of the soul to the presence of God and Christ at death was a stumbling block to orthodox acceptance of chiliasm, and with his counter proposal that the chiliastic . . . Continue reading →

Bullinger: We Are Critically Sympathetic To The Fathers

by

• R. Scott Clark

on September 23, 2014

Wherefore we do not despise the interpretations of the holy Greek and Latin fathers, nor reject their disputations and treatises concerning sacred matters as far as they agree with the Scriptures; but we modestly dissent from them when they are found to . . . Continue reading →

Between Hagiography And Cynicism

by

• R. Scott Clark

on August 26, 2014 | 10 Comments

Telling the truth about the past is more difficult than it might seem but we can appreciate the difficulties by reflecting for just a moment on the controversy in Ferguson, Missouri. It’s a contemporary event of which there are at least two . . . Continue reading →

Catechism And Catechesis In The Early Church

by

• R. Scott Clark

on August 1, 2014

The earliest known example of a Catechetical work is the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” which Athanasius names among the “books not included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who are just recently coming to . . . Continue reading →

An Ogre Minding Long Term Developments

by

• R. Scott Clark

on July 24, 2014

Because of this emphasis on mentalités, Le Goff preferred to speak of birth and genesis rather than origins, decline, or decadence. Hence he wrote The Birth of Purgatory (1981) and The Birth of Europe (2003) (the French title posed a question: L’Europe . . . Continue reading →

The Gospel To Diognetus (c. 150 AD)

by

• R. Scott Clark

on June 28, 2014 | 1 Comment

[God] himself took on him the burden of our iniquities, he gave his own Son as a ransom for us, the Holy One for transgressors, the blameless one for the wicked, the righteous one for the unrighteous, the incorruptible one for the . . . Continue reading →

Calvin: Who Is Faithful To The Church Fathers?

by

• Heidelblog

on April 3, 2014

Moreover, they unjustly set the ancient fathers against us (I mean the ancient writers of a better age of the church) as if in them they had supporters of their own impiety. If the contest were to be determined by patristic authority, . . . Continue reading →

Did Luther And Calvin Favor Evangelical Monasticism?

by

• R. Scott Clark

on March 27, 2014 | 3 Comments

I was clicking around the internets recently and (probably via Twitter) and found a fascinating essay by Greg Peters, Associate Professor of Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University. The burden of the essay is to introduce the reader to and to commend the . . . Continue reading →

Maybe Darryl Had A Point? Driscoll v. Catholic Creeds

by

• R. Scott Clark

on December 13, 2013 | 8 Comments

I don’t know why people are not debating whether Driscoll should even be writing books. —Darryl Hart, “Tribalists All” Second, the Apostles’ Creed [sic] defines the Son as “begotten, not made.” The point was that something begotten was of the same substance . . . Continue reading →

The Synagogue As Pattern For Early Christian Worship

by

• Heidelblog

on October 28, 2013 | 6 Comments

When comparing the worship of the early church with that of the synagogue, we labour under this disadvantage, that, if the primitive church had any liturgy, it has not been handed down to us; still, as far as we can ascertain anything . . . Continue reading →