COLE, Circuit Judge. Matthew Warman, a former graduate student at Mount St. Joseph University (MSJU), objected to taking the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds. When MSJU announced that it would require all students and employees to be vaccinated, Warman applied for a . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
The Resurrection Means Everything
Without Christ’s resurrection, Christian hope disappears. Among many indispensable articles of our faith, Christ’s resurrection crowns the list. Part of the reason for its critical role is because we worship the risen Christ, who is God the Son in power with all . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: Do Not Make An Idol Of Me Or A Jerusalem Of Geneva
Now, as they did us injustice in that, it appears to me that you ought to have been too reasonable and humane to suffer us to be mixed up and implicated in their follies. One of them, of whom I had heard . . . Continue reading →
Ninth Circuit Panel: Oregon’s Requirement That Adoptive Parents Affirm Trans Ideology Violates The First Amendment
The panel reversed the district court’s denial of plaintiff Jessica Bates’s motion for preliminary injunctive relief and remanded with instructions to enter a preliminary injunction enjoining the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) from applying Oregon Administrative Rule § 413- 200-0308(2 (k)—a . . . Continue reading →
Re-Thinking Thomas On The Effects Of Sin
One of the most common critiques of Thomas Aquinas to be found in contemporary Protestant theology and apologetics is that Aquinas either outright denies the noetic effects of sin (that is, the effect of original sin on the human intellect) or at least minimizes . . . Continue reading →
Warfield On Calvin’s Doctrine Of The Natural Knowledge Of God
The first chapters of Calvin’s “Institutes” are taken up with a comprehensive exposition of the sources and guarantee of the knowledge of God and divine things (Book I. chs. i.-ix.). A systematic treatise on the knowledge of God must needs begin with . . . Continue reading →
Thinking Rightly About Images
Worship is a vital part of the Christian life, in fact, the most important facet of our life. It is how both the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms direct us on what our proper end is: “Man’s chief end is to glorify . . . Continue reading →
The Incredible Shrinking Mainline
In 2008, I commented on a post by the Aquila Report: “The PCUSA continues its statistical decline. As a firm believer in Scottish revivals I might be tempted to take this as a sign of health but, in this case, it doesn’t . . . Continue reading →
What Is Missio Dei?
What is God doing in creation? What is He aiming to achieve? The answer shapes how we think about what the world needs, what the church’s purpose is, and what it means for Christians to live on mission. The answer also has . . . Continue reading →
What Is American Reformer?
The mission of American Reformer (a project that fancies itself the brains of a movement that seems to major in morphing and losing its mind) sounds tame and broad enough: American Reformer’s mission is to promote a vigorous Christian approach to the . . . Continue reading →
The American Presbyterians Were Correcting The Tradition
I’ve written before about how Presbyterians changed their views on the civil magistrate and how this shift is reflected in the American revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF). When the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America adopted the . . . Continue reading →
The Ark Means More Than You Think It Does
At first glance, the flood narrative may seem like a simple tale of an ancient deluge or even God’s love for animal life. That was what I was taught growing up in the church. However, it’s so much more than that. When . . . Continue reading →
Yes, It Is Really Happening
“I hope everyone is enjoying the podcast that no one is allowed to admit they listen to.” When temptation arrives, it rarely announces itself. Instead, it speaks like a familiar friend. It preys on our vanity, arrogance, and curiosity—buttons it knows how . . . Continue reading →
Truth Without Love Is Brutality, Love Without Truth Is Hypocrisy
“Jesus, why are you being so insensitive? Why don’t you care more about the people? Don’t you realize that the people you just chased out of the Temple are good guys?” In our day, we wouldn’t be surprised if this was in . . . Continue reading →
Vos On Adam’s Probation Before The Fall
Now, it is true that our moral goodness and our righteousness can be in the closest relationship, that someone good and holy is righteous per se. But still one must be careful to note that righteousness only stems from moral goodness by means of . . . Continue reading →
The Literacy Crisis In America: English Majors Can’t Read
English professors often assume that students can read the novels and poetry assigned for their courses. However, like many of our colleagues, we have come to question that assumption. To gain some insight, we conducted a reading test from January to April . . . Continue reading →
How Recovering Traditional Reformed Categories Helps Us Understand What Civil Law Is
Few Christians today doubt that our relationship to our civil governments has gotten at least more complicated, if not outright harder, in recent years. Still, we often do not know how to navigate that challenge very effectively. We can be left thinking . . . Continue reading →
Turretin On Not Mixing Water In Communion Wine
Common “wine” is instituted, of indifferent color, undiluted with water because it is called simply the “fruit of the vine” (Mt. 26:29; Mk. 14:25). Thus the Romanists here without reason urge the mixture of water with the wine, which although according to . . . Continue reading →
Turretin On Unleavened Bread In Communion
V. Christ used bread because with the divine blessing it is of all the elements the most efficacious for nourishing and strengthening the body; the most common, the most familiar and to be found everywhere, easily prepared and the most pleasant. However, . . . Continue reading →
Warfield Contra Biblicism
It must be observed, however, that the teachings and prescriptions of Scripture are not confined by the Confession to what is “expressly set down in Scripture.” Men are required to believe and to obey not only what is “expressly set down in . . . Continue reading →