I lived in New Zealand for a few months during college for a mission trip. We went to help a church start outreach efforts on the nearby university campus. One day, we attended an event where various organizations set up tables to . . . Continue reading →
Church History
Harrison Perkins—The Non-Insistent Pastor: Conscience And Submission In History, Theology, And Churchmanship (2)
This talk is part two of Westminster Seminary California’s Student Association 2025 Spring Convocation. 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 . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 13)—From there he will come to judge the living and the dead
Casablanca is one of the most famous movies in cinematic history, leaving us with more than its fair share of artifacts ingrained in cultural memory even eighty years later. Humphrey Bogart alone left us with a stack of lines most of us . . . Continue reading →
Harrison Perkins—The Non-Insistent Pastor: Conscience And Submission In History, Theology, And Churchmanship (1)
This talk is part one of Westminster Seminary California’s Student Association 2025 Spring Convocation. 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 . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 12)—He Ascended into Heaven and is Seated at the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty
It is a common bug of humanity that we do not like saying goodbye. We even have stock phrases like, “I’m bad at goodbyes,” or, “Let’s say ‘see you later’ rather than ‘goodbye.’” Even “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” as true . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 11)—The third day he rose again from the dead
The Trojan Horse is the classic example of a bait and switch. Legend says that, for ten years, the Greeks waged war on the city of Troy. This war went so long because Troy was so well fortified. One morning, the Trojans . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 10)—He Descended into Hell
If I were speaking to an audience and asked them what the word reed means, from the sound of the word, the majority response would likely be something like “processing written words.” When I explain that the word in my notes is . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 9)—Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Crucified, Died, and Was Buried
One of the common questions that Christians face in conversations with unbelievers is, “How could a loving God send anyone to hell?” Although we certainly have to keep a clear focus on God’s love and how his mercy is truly available to . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 8)—Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary
One of the flavors of the day in movies and television seems to be the reboot. You take an old story and retell it in a new way. Or you take an old character and reset the storyline, setting aside the previous . . . Continue reading →
The Order Of Love (Ordo Amoris): Proximity, Not Ethnicity (Part 3)
So far in this brief series I have alluded to Aquinas’ discussion of the ordo amoris (order of love). It was by reading Thomas that I was sent back to Augustine but now we come to Aquinas’ own discussion of the order . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 7)—His only begotten Son, our Lord
The American posture is dominated by pragmatism—meaning that our biggest question for whether or not we should learn something is, “Does it work?” We need ideas to do something for us to think they are at all worthy of our attention. A . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 6)—I Believe In Jesus Christ
“What’s in a name?” A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So, we might easily assume that what we name something is unimportant. And yet, there seems to be some sort of natural affinity in most ears for the . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 5)—Maker Of Heaven And Earth
An old joke pokes at the irony of rejecting God by describing an atheistic scientist talking to God about why we supposedly no longer need him. He says to God, “You know, it used to be that we needed you to help . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: The Apostles’ Creed (Part 4)—God . . . Almighty
One question meant to trap Christians in an unsolvable philosophical problem is, “If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so heavy that even he can’t pick it up?” Or as my philosophy professor from college, who was an atheist, . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: The Apostles’ Creed (Part 3)—God the Father
An old allegory tries to describe religion with the story of four blind men feeling an elephant. The blind man feeling the trunk thinks he is touching a long, thick creature. The one touching the elephant’s leg says he is touching a . . . Continue reading →
The Order Of Love (Ordo Amoris): Proximity, Not Ethnicity (Part 2)
Three times in his discussion of the nature of virtue Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224–74) referred to Augustine’s AD 388 treatise against the Manichaeans, On The Morals of the Church (De moribus ecclesiae) regarding the “order of love.”1 Even though it was a . . . Continue reading →
The Cradle Of Christian Truth: The Apostles’ Creed (Part 2)—I Believe
As we start this series, the whole first line, “I believe in God the Father Almighty,” is too much to tackle in one go. As a way of introduction to the whole idea of studying the Creed, then, this article focuses on . . . Continue reading →
The Order Of Love (Ordo Amoris): Proximity, Not Ethnicity (Part 1)
The Christian Nationalists have discovered a new toy: Augustine’s language about the “order of love” or the “order of charity” (ordo caritatis), and some of them are putting it to the service of racism and kinism.1 This calls for some explanation and . . . Continue reading →
Tertullian Was A Cautious Paedobaptist (Part 2)
What Hath Angels to Do With Baptism? For a homily on baptism, Tertullian sure talks about angels more than one might expect. What are we to make of it all? As with any historical figure, it is all too easy to impose . . . Continue reading →
Trueman: What We Can Learn From Confessional Lutherans
Toward the end of the seminar, one pastor asked what I thought confessional Lutheranism could offer to the church catholic at this moment in time. My answer was threefold. …I went on to say that confessional Lutheranism, more specifically, has two particularly . . . Continue reading →