While Augustine argues that ‘there are two things on which all interpretation of Scripture depends: the mode of ascertaining the proper meaning and the mode of making known the meaning when it is ascertained,’ it should be evident that the first step . . . Continue reading →
Academic Stuff
Augustine: Small Town Boy Makes Good
On this date, on the old calendar, Augustine of Hippo was born. Hippo is not his last name. It is the city where he served as bishop. The name of the town is funny in English, but it makes sense in Greek. . . . 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 →
Ping-Pong Evangelicals And Middle Knowledge
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 →
Education True And False (Part 2)
In the previous part, we looked at the first mark of a true school: genuine learning. We continue here with a discussion of the second mark: what makes a proper faculty. A second objective mark of the quality of a faculty is . . . Continue reading →
Education True and False (Part 1)
Americans are busy people who continue to conquer a big place which has, since the eighteenth century, offered wealth and great influence to those who work hard and who produce a product or service valued by others. Education, per se, has not . . . 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 →
Polycarp Vs. The Christian Nationalists
The Christian Nationalists are proposing an American Revolution. Some of them want, in place of free churches, voluntarily attended by free Americans, to institute a federal church, directly contrary to the First Amendment of the Constitution—”Congress shall make no law respecting an . . . Continue reading →
Get Thee To A Library
Reading online is great. It is fast. It is convenient. It is accessible. There is still, however, a lot of important information that you cannot get from the Web. I am not writing against e-books, even though they too have weaknesses (e.g., . . . Continue reading →
Review: Calvin’s Theology And Its Reception Edited by J. Todd Billings and I. John Hesselink
What should we do with Calvin on the sofa? The answer to that question depends on one’s job description. Continue reading →
I Believe In God The Father Almighty: The First Article Of The Faith
Dr Clark gives a brief devotion on the first article of the Apostles’ Creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Continue reading →