it would be tedious, dearly beloved, were I to recount every episode from the history of the Psalms, especially since it is necessary now to offer something from the New Testament and confirmation of the Old, lest one think the ministry of . . . Continue reading →
Academic Stuff
William Perkins On The Rule Of Worship And 1 Corinthians 14 Contra Good Intentions
V. Will worship, when God is worshiped with a naked and bare good intention, not warranted by the word of God. (Colossians 2:23) “Which things have indeed a shew o wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: Among The Various Acts Of Faith Is Union With Christ
It seems proper, in the mean time, to remark that, amongst the various acts of faith which we are about to describe, there is one which holds the principal place, and in which, as it unites us to Christ and justifies us, . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Aquinas Among The Protestants
Thomas Aquinas (c.1224–74) was one of the most important Christian teachers in the period and though he was eclipsed in the centuries after, his work returned to prominence in the 16th–19th centuries particularly among Roman theologians, for whom Thomas became the theologian . . . Continue reading →
Grammar Guerrilla: “Me And Him Talked About It”
The other day a sports-talk show host, whom I enjoy, said, “Me and him talked about it.” I was taken aback. As I understand it, this fellow is the child of a school teacher who would surely not permit him to speak . . . Continue reading →
Jerome On Silence And Piety
Where there is the beating of drums, the noise and clatter of pipe and lute, the clanging of cymbals, can any of fear God be found? Jerome, The Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin, §22.
Theology And The University In Nineteenth-Century Germany
The history of modern German theology is dominated by two figures, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) and G. F. W. Hegel (1770–1831) but there is more to the story. If Schleiermacher and Hegel formed the skeleton, a series of lesser-known figures and institutions formed . . . Continue reading →
The Earliest Christians Had A Rural Mission Too
To be clear, Robinson’s point is not that early Christians prioritized rural over urban. Rather his point is that the rural dimension of early Christianity has been routinely overlooked due to a reigning paradigm that has insisted Christians were predominantly urban. In . . . Continue reading →
On Memorial Day: All Christians Are Historians
In the United States, Memorial Day is day for remembering those who died in the service of the US military. It began as Decoration Day in 1868, on which day 5,000 people decorated the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington . . . Continue reading →
Turretin On The Fundamental Articles Of The Faith
I. The question concerning fundamental articles is difficult and important. It has been discussed by many who have erred both in defect and in excess. The Socinians err in defect who admit very few fundamentals (and those only practical, theoretical being almost . . . Continue reading →
Are The Remonstrants Heretics?
This question comes over the transom regularly. I think most confessional Reformed pastors would probably say that, though they disagree strongly with Arminianism, it is not heresy. Somewhere I read (or heard) that William Ames (1576–1633), who served as an advisor . . . Continue reading →
The Dramatic Story Of Peter Martyr Vermigli
Pope Paul III, however, was not sitting idle in this rapidly changing climate. In 1542, after a failed attempt to conciliate Roman Catholics and Protestants at the Diet of Regensburg, he agreed on renewing the earlier practice of the Roman Inquisition under . . . Continue reading →
Augustine’s Retractations, Perfectionism, And Fakespectations (2)
Secular institutions and even extra-ecclesiastical Christian institutions have always been, in their essence, law. The civil magistrate may exercise mercy—Calvin’s first published work was a commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia (On Clemency), Seneca’s defense of the virtue of mercy to Nero. When . . . Continue reading →
Augustine’s Retractations, Perfectionism, And Fakespectations (1)
For a long time I have been thinking about and planning to do something which I, with God’s assistance, I am now undertaking because I do not think it should be postponed: with a kind of judicial severity I am reviewing my . . . Continue reading →
Tertullian On The Apologetic Power Of Sola Scriptura
Take away, indeed, from the heretics the wisdom which they share with the heathen, and let them support their inquiries from the Scriptures alone: they will then be unable to keep their ground. Tertullian, De res. 3. On the Resurrection of the . . . Continue reading →
Who Is anti-Science?
Using the authority of “scientific consensus” to stifle heterodox hypotheses and alternative fields of research: Science is never truly settled. Indeed, challenging seemingly incontrovertible facts and continually retesting long-accepted theories are crucial components of the scientific method. Examples of perceived truths overturned . . . Continue reading →
“Biased Facts,” Objective Reality, The Reformation, And The Resurrection
A few days ago someone, somewhere on social media, in objection to something I wrote, used the arresting expression “biased facts.” I learned from the Dutch Reformed philosophical theologian Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) that there are no such things as uninterpreted facts . . . Continue reading →
The Greatest Creed You Have Never Read
The Symbolum Quicunque [Athanasian Creed] is a remarkably clear and precise summary of the doctrinal decisions of the first four œcumenical Councils (from A.D. 325 to A.D. 451), and the Augustinian speculations on the Trinity and the Incarnation. Its brief sentences are . . . Continue reading →
The Myth Of The Isolated Scholar
There is a myth about academic life that it is a solitary endeavor. Imagine lonely, stoic figures plodding single-file into a library to sit for hours, hidden behind walled study carrels, isolated and free from social distractions, a hushed silence strictly observed. . . . Continue reading →
“Intersectionality:” The New Secularist Religious Orthodoxy?
“Intersectionality” is the latest academic craze sweeping the American academy. On the surface, it’s a recent neo-Marxist theory that argues that social oppression does not simply apply to single categories of identity — such as race, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc. — . . . Continue reading →