Review: The Labors of a Godly and Learned Divine, William Perkins: Including Previously Unpublished Sermons By Matthew N. Payne and J. Stephen Yuille

The English Reformed theologian William Perkins (1558–1602), is perhaps the most prominent and influential of all English-speaking divines. As preacher and lecturer at Great St. Andrews and Christ’s College, Cambridge, he “influenced a generation of young students including Richard Sibbes, John Cotton, . . . Continue reading →

Review: Puritan Portraits: J. I. Packer on Selected Classic Pastors and Pastoral Classics By J. I. Packer

J. I. Packer is a significant figure in a variety of circles. He is one of the last voices representing that generation of British evangelicalism which had roots in the Reformation, which was articulate, warm, and evangelical in the best sense of . . . Continue reading →

Shedd: Thomas Was Right, Scotus Was Wrong

A controversy respecting the atonement sprang up between Duns Scotus and the followers of Aquinas, which involved fundamental principles in ethics and religion, and divided the Romish Church into two great parties of Thomists and Scotists. Duns Scotus denied the Anselmic doctrine . . . Continue reading →

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 →