June is the usual month for the convening of Presbyterian assemblies, but the jewel in the crown of Presbyterian reforms, replacing bishops with lengthy committee meetings, seems less impressive today than it did in 1560 when the Scots held their first General . . . Continue reading →
American Religion
John Witherspoon: Presbyterian Pastor
John Witherspoon is most famous for being the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. The most crucial part of that sentence is the recognition that Witherspoon was, from the age of 20 until his death at the age of 71, . . . Continue reading →
CRCNA Synod 2026: From Reformation to Further Reformation
“Brothers, there is reformation happening in the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC). And that is something that we ought to be thankful for.” This statement was not made at the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. It . . . Continue reading →
Stuart Robinson (1814–81) Defended The Disestablishment Of The Church
No logical Christian mind can avoid the suspicion that the first principles of the true doctrine touching the relation of the temporal and spiritual powers must have very generally fallen out of the consciousness of Christendom, as he contemplates the singular fact . . . Continue reading →
Samuel Davies (1723–61): Defender Of Religious Dissent Under The Established Pre-Revolutionary Church In America
Davies’ willingness to submit to the prevailing church-state arrangement should not be mistaken for passivity. He fought doggedly for the rights of non-conformists, arguing that the 1689 Act of Toleration, which protected dissenters in England, applied in the colonies. If dissenters like . . . Continue reading →
Swaim: The American Founders Were Not Utopians
Spend the rest of this semiquincentennial year reading the Federalist Papers and mark how often the authors—Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison—base their contentions on the reality that fallen man can be counted on to conflate his own narrow interests with . . . Continue reading →
With D. G. Hart, T. David Gordon, And Presbycast On “A Presbyterian Church For Me”
Here is the audio only version: RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! Download the HeidelApp on Apple App Store or Google Play Browse the Heidelshop! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg Catechism The Heidelberg Catechism: . . . Continue reading →
Eighteenth Century Virginia Presbyterians Were Politically American
In The Case for Christian Nationalism, widely considered the strongest argument for this position, Stephen Wolfe contends that the “classical Protestant position is that the civil magistrate can punish external religion—e.g., heretical teaching, false rites, blasphemy, and Sabbath-breaking—because such actions can cause . . . Continue reading →
Hart On American Presbyterianism After Disestablishment
Early indications of the difference that a constitutional republic made for Presbyterianism came when in 1789 The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America revised the Westminster confession and catechisms’ clauses on the civil magistrate. The original version’s conception of the . . . Continue reading →
EPC Votes To Allow Ordination Of Celibate “Same-Sex Attracted” Pastors
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) voted last week at its General Assembly to approve a “pastoral letter” to churches that opens the door to ordaining celibate, same-sex attracted individuals—a decision that has drawn sharp criticism from within the denomination. The measure passed . . . Continue reading →
With Presbycast On Whether Revivalism Can Be Reformed
At the end of March Brad Isbell, Wilson Van Hooser and I discussed whether Revivalism can be Reformed. As usual, great fun was had by all. Here’s the video: Here’s the audio-only episode in the Presbycast Libsyn feed. Subscribe to the Presbycast . . . Continue reading →
Why Your Neighbor Has Become A Conspiracy Theorist
They were “kidnapping our loved ones and replac[ing] them with a bitter hollow shell of what they once were.” This sounds like a line from the campy 1978 sci-fi horror flick Invasion of the Body Snatchers, about aliens from a dying planet . . . Continue reading →
On Traveling From Münster To Geneva
In 1535 the Reformation was about fourteen years old. The Protestants had gained some legal status within the empire, but the existence of the movement was by no means secure. Internally, it was wracked with dissension over the moral and theological implications . . . Continue reading →
Jesus And Trump
Garrison Keillor used to open his monologues about the fictional town of Lake Woebegon by saying, “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon” and then go on to explain how it had not actually been quiet. The way the news is . . . Continue reading →
Was Dr Frankenstein Surprised By His Monster?
In February 2026, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth extended an invitation to Moscow, Idaho pastor Doug Wilson to lead a Christian prayer service at the Pentagon. The invitation generated immediate and considerable national attention: not least because Wilson has, over the . . . Continue reading →
Silicon Valley’s Religion
…My concern here is the underlying religion of the high priests of the Silicon Valley and beyond. After all, if pioneering engineers and tech billionaires are inspired by explicitly religious ideas, why shouldn’t Christians evaluate them? There are plenty of non-ideological folks . . . Continue reading →
Review: The Search For Christian America By Mark A. Noll, Nathan O. Hatch, And George M. Marsden
Christians often mimic the tactics of non-Christians in the social and political realms. For example, the “cancel culture” found in legacy media and social media is also found in evangelical media and Christian social media. American politicians and pundits use scare tactics, . . . Continue reading →
Toward A Confessional CRC: Synod 2025
The 2025 Synod of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) met from June 13–19 at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. The 49 Classes of the denomination sent 176 delegates to deliberate on important matters of the church. The headline . . . Continue reading →
33 Ministers And 26 Congregations Leave The CRC For The RCA After Synod Requires Churches To Uphold Christian Doctrine On Sexuality
At a church just outside Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Tuesday (Feb. 18), 33 ministers from the Christian Reformed Church in North America stood up to read aloud a declaration, officially accepting ordination in a rival denomination, the Reformed Church in America. Having . . . Continue reading →
With The Pactum Podcast On Bad Theology
In this interview Dr Clark sits down with Pat Abendroth of The Pactum podcast to talk about different types of bad theology: pietism, biblicism, antinomianism, neonomianism, and more. Here is the audio from the interview: Here’s the video. RESOURCES Subscribe To The . . . Continue reading →