Saturday Psalm Series: Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Instruments in the Vulgate (Part 2)

The Latin Bible was a major formative influence on the way the Reformed theologians interpreted Scripture. The King James Version/Authorized Version (1611) particularly reflects the influence of the Latin Bible, but its influence reverberates in many English translations. It influenced their word . . . Continue reading →

Saturday Psalm Series: Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Instruments in the Vulgate (Part 1)

We Reformed folk like to think that what we do now in public worship is what we have always done. This is especially easy to do when we are cut off from or unaware of the original sources and practices of our . . . Continue reading →

Review: Petrus van Mastricht’s Theoretical-Practical Theology Volume 3: The Works of God and the Fall of Man

Although it is bad practice to believe in golden ages in the absolute sense, the present is certainly a high point for the church in the specific sense of the English-speaking world gaining increasing access to rich material from Protestant Orthodoxy that . . . Continue reading →

A New Devotional Drawn From The Works Of “The Sweet Dropper”

Many English (and Dutch) speaking Christians have a particular affection for and connection to that varied and complex movement known as Puritanism, usually described in this space as English Reformed theology. One of the English Reformed theologians to whom my friend Paul . . . Continue reading →

The Narcissism of Evangelical Latitudinarianism

This essay was written before I published Recovering the Reformed Confession (2008), which, remarkably and quite unexpectedly, remains in print. In it, I interacted with a book review published in Christianity Today which serves as a symbol of the way Pietists and modern evangelicals . . . Continue reading →

Ridley, Latimer, And Cranmer: The Oxford Martyrs

One of the most interesting bits of Oxford history is the story of the Oxford Martyrs and the statue by which they are remembered. The history of the monument itself is fascinating. In 1833, John Henry Newman (1801‑90), an Anglican priest, began . . . Continue reading →

Remembering Meredith Kline

Princeton Theological Seminary was established with the intention of combining excellent scholarship with an intelligent, hearty commitment to the Reformed theology, piety, and practice summarized in the Reformed confessions. It has not always been easy to maintain that marriage. Princeton Seminary was . . . Continue reading →

A Word About “R2K” (3): Rhetoric

What I have not done yet, however, is to define “R2K.” This is, in part, because many of the critics (especially on social media) do not seem to know what they mean by it other than to say that it is something that someone told them leads to bad social outcomes. Continue reading →

A Word About “R2K” (2): History

So far I have been explaining, in part, why the early Reformation (e.g., Luther) distinction between “two kingdoms” and Calvin’s (beginning in 1536) distinction between two spheres in one kingdom has met with such resistance in our time: (1) The Reformed have . . . Continue reading →

Beza On Law And Gospel

We divide this Word into two principal parts or kinds: the one is called the ‘Law,’ the other the ‘Gospel.’ For all the rest can be gathered under the one or other of these two headings…Ignorance of this distinction between Law and . . . Continue reading →

Aquinas On The Source Of Truth

Aquinas did not view truths of reason and truths of revelation as incompatible or in need of synthesis. Underlying the theological project of Aquinas’ two Summas is the assumption that what is true is true whatever its immediate source, given that all . . . Continue reading →

1689 Vs. The Westminster Confession (7): On The Fall, The Covenant Of Works, And The Covenant Of Grace

Our comparison and contrast of the WCF with the 2LC continues through chapters 6 and 7, “Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment thereof” and “Of God’s Covenant with Man.” WCF 6.1 2LC 6.1 1. Our first parents, being seduced . . . Continue reading →

A Prison Letter From Huguenot Marie Durand

The “French Religious Wars” describes a series of eight civil wars fought out between 1562 and 1598. An estimated three million people perished, fifteen percent of the French population. Although the antagonists wore their inherited religious labels of “Protestant” or “Catholic,” social . . . Continue reading →

1689 Vs. The Westminster Confession (6): A Tale Of Two Confessions

Our comparison and contrast of the WCF with the 2LC continues through chapters 4 and 5, “Of Creation” and “Of Divine Providence.” WCF 4.1 2LC 4.1 1. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of His . . . Continue reading →