Last month we learned that the University of Kentucky denied an appointment to a qualified candidate on the basis that he might be an evangelical. Yesterday news emerged that the UK settled Gaskell’s religious discrimination suit with Gaskell for $125,000 (HT: Rhett . . . Continue reading →
Academic Stuff
Riddlebarger Reviews Zaspel on Warfield
According to Hugh T. Kerr, Benjamin B. Warfield Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary after Warfield’s death: Of [Warfield’s] printed and published work, there are ten large, and I mean large, volumes of posthumously selected and edited articles known as the . . . Continue reading →
Augustine On Grace Before and After the Fall
Chapter 29—What then? Did not Adam have the grace of God? Yes, truly, he had it largely, but of a different kind. He was placed in the midst of benefits which he had received from the goodness of his Creator; for he had . . . Continue reading →
Nunc Super Tunc
Originally posted 5 March 2009 The title is Latin for “Now is superior to then.”1 It’s 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 . . . Continue reading →
All the Children Are Not Above Average
In Lake Wobegon all the children are above average. Outside of Lake Wobegon, however, it isn’t so. Therein lies the problem. Of course Garrison Keillor is being funny. In the nature of things, all the children cannot be above average. A recent . . . Continue reading →
Updated Resource Page: For Students Considering Seminary
In my never-ending quest to serve our “one-click” world I’ve compiled a great lot of resources (video, audio, and text) into a resource page (there’s a list of them on the left side of the home page of the HB) for students . . . Continue reading →
Why Do We Confess "He Descended Into Hell"?
The Apostles’ Creed (which was not actually written by the Apostles) began to develop as part of the catechesis (basic Christian instruction) in the Roman church late in the 2nd century (c. 150-80). One of the clauses of the creed that has . . . Continue reading →
New: Histories and Fallacies
Just picked this up in the Bookstore at Westminster Seminary California and plan to read it today. It looks terrific. I was reading it when I was interrupted by Bob Godfrey, who stopped into the studio for an interview (to be broadcast . . . Continue reading →
Resources for Those Thinking About Seminary
Prospective seminary students frequently ask whether it’s advisable to try to save money by getting a degree by distance or by attending a non-accredited school. Here’s a resource page: Why Pastors Need A Seminary Education And Now for the Rest of the . . . Continue reading →
The Social Crisis is Too Great to Be Arguing About… (Updated)
The various social crises facing the West are great but the Roman empire was already in crisis when God the Holy Spirit empowered Christ’s apostles to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Rome fell. The gospel and Christ’s church continued. Another empire, Christendom, replaced the old Roman Empire but it fell too. The kingdom of God, as manifested chiefly in this world in the visible, institutional church, continued. Social crises are important but they aren’t more important than the gospel. Seeing that is a key difference between actually being Reformed and being just another social conservative with a passing interest in the Reformation (as it suits whatever social agenda is in view). Continue reading →
John Owen for Kids
John Owen (1616–83) was one of the most important and influential Reformed theologians of the 17th century. His books were widely read in his own life and he has continued to influence Reformed theology and piety since. Owen’s theology is not light . . . Continue reading →
Hill: Who Chose the Gospels?
There aren’t many authors about whom one can say this but here goes: Anything Chuck Hill writes is worth reading. Okay, I’m a friend and a fan but I’m the latter because Chuck is such an outstanding scholar and writer. In an . . . Continue reading →
Parrot AND Poet
You may be aware of Dorothy Sayers’ wonderful talk (later turned into an essay), “The Lost Tools of Learning.” In that essay she summarizes the medieval Christian understanding of the stages of childhood development. She argues that, according to the medievals, we . . . Continue reading →
Was Barth Reformed?
Among the Followers of Karl Barth (d. 1968), both evangelical and mainline (and especially among evangelicals in the mainline) it is sometimes assumed that Barth’s theology was and is the true modern manifestation of Calvin’s theology and to the degree Calvin’s theology . . . Continue reading →
The Catholicity of the Reformed Faith and Its Evangelical Counterparts
Recently Mark Driscoll and Gerry Brashears published a survey of basic Christian teaching. Martin Downes has been helpfully evaluating their account of the doctrine of Christ. It is interesting to see the way two ostensibly “Reformed” writers handle a matter of catholic . . . Continue reading →
Roman Catholic Scholar Converts to Evangelical Faith
Re-posted from c. 2007 Dateline Paris, 1534. © Paris News Service By Guy LaFontaine Jean Calvin, 25, of Noyon, a leading scholar of the classics and law student in the University of Paris, has reportedly converted to the evangelical cause. A classicist . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Martin Klauber on Protestant Orthodoxy in the Classical Period
There aren’t many scholars who know in detail what happened to Protestant theology after the “high orthodox” period in the mid-late 17th century (think Francis Turretin). Marty Klauber is one of those fellows and we sat down to talk last spring when . . . Continue reading →
We Expect the AAUP to Speak Up
An adjunct prof at the University of Illinois has been fired for offending a student (engaging in “hate speech”). What was that “hate speech”? He dared to contrast a natural-law approach to homosexuality with other approaches (HT: AR). RELATED POSTS Natural Law, . . . Continue reading →
The Glory of Rome
The election of Pope Paul III in 1534 signaled the beginning of the counter-Reformation; that is Rome’s response to Luther, Calvin and their followers. One way Paul III hoped to counter the teachings of the reformation was to complete the construction of . . . Continue reading →
Polanus 400
Amandus Polanus wrote one of the more significant Reformed theologies of the first half of the 17th century. It’s a remarkable work. Andrew Myers has a nice post introducing Polanus.