The popular Roman Catholic apologist Trent Horn recently published a video criticizing the Protestant principle of sola scriptura on historical grounds, and arguing that sola scriptura was a novel idea invented by the Protestant Reformers with no basis in the writings of . . . Continue reading →
Historical Theology
New Insight Into Olevianus And Ursinus On The Imputation Of Active Obedience
The publication of this new research, completed only in the last month, may surprise some readers, disappoint others, and delight still others but it is important research that changes what we know about the origins and development of the controversy over the . . . Continue reading →
Why Does The Council Of Chalcedon Matter?
Dr. R. Scott Clark explains why the Council of Chalcedon matters for our theology today. Continue reading →
Confessional Protestantism Is Not Populist
I recently watched a panel discussion hosted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) which discussed the book, The Democratization of American Christianity, along with its author, historian Nathan O. Hatch.1 The members of the panel included Rusty Reno from First Things Magazine, . . . Continue reading →
The Black Rubric And The Creator-Creature Distinction
The “Black Rubric” was so-called because it was set in black print in the 1661–1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. It was first inserted into the Second Edwardian Prayer Book in 1552. It was intended to explain that when communicants . . . Continue reading →
When Old Testament Scholars Do Historical Theology
It comes out about as accurate as Historical Theologians doing serious Old Testament work. I say this because I recently asked whence folk (Federal Visionists among them) get the idea that Martin Bucer’s soteriology marked a substantial break from Martin Luther’s. I . . . 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 →
Tertullian And The Athanasian Creed
Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is . . . Continue reading →
Tertullian On The Natural Knowledge Of God
For indeed, as the Creator of all things, He was from the beginning discovered equally with them, they having been themselves manifested that He might become known as God. For although Moses, some long while afterwards, seems to have been the first . . . 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 →
Tertullian Anticipated Anselm On The Ontological Argument
The principal, and indeed the whole, contention lies in the point of number: whether two Gods may be admitted, by poetic license (if they must be), or pictorial fancy, or by the third process, as we must now add, of heretical depravity. . . . Continue reading →
What Tertullian Really Said About Jerusalem And Athens
These are “the doctrines” of men and “of demons” produced for itching ears of the spirit of this world’s wisdom: this the Lord called “foolishness,” and “chose the foolish things of the world” to confound even philosophy itself. For (philosophy) it is . . . Continue reading →
Has The Forensic Eclipsed Christ?
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 →
Measuring The Health Of A Church
For many the eighteenth century is regarded as the “century of mission,” or perhaps the century of the so-called First Great Awakening.1 But if fidelity to the Reformed Confession is a mark of the health of the church, there are many ways in . . . Continue reading →
Nunc Super Tunc
The title is Latin for “Now is superior to then.” It is a shorthand way of getting at an attitude that is widespread among American Christians—that whatever we think and do, now is necessarily superior to anything that was thought and done in the past. Continue reading →
Back In Print: Olevianus On The Apostles’ Creed
Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, trans. Lyle Bierma, Classic Reformed Theology Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010). Introduction by R. Scott Clark. Caspar Olevianus (1536–87) is most well known today for his role as one of the authors . . . Continue reading →
Video: Trueman On Why Protestants Need Classical Christian Theology
©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved. RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg Catechism Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008) Why I Am A Christian What Must A . . . Continue reading →
Bible, Babel, Bubble: Sola Scriptura Contra Thomas Müntzer
After Calvin: Recommended Reading
There is a popular view of church history that tells a story in which there was a pure, believing church during the apostolic age and then, for all intents and purposes, there was not a church (except for the Waldensians who alone . . . 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 →