It is entirely wrong to place the rationalism of the Enlightenment in contradiction to pietistic mysticism. It is popular nonsense that reason and mysticism are the two great opposites. Historically, Pietism and the Enlightenment both fought against Orthodoxy. The subjectivity of Pietism, . . . Continue reading →
Recovering the Reformed Confession
Truth Offends Narcissists
Truth as a proposition is found to be offensive by what it implies. That is, if the proposition is correct I must be wrong, ergo you are judging me. Or, if we are passionate about the truth the response is normally, ‘why . . . Continue reading →
Audio: How Not To Be A Heretic
You and I are not the first ones to read the Bible. Christians as individuals and the church as a corporation has been hearing, meditating upon, and reading God’s Word for its entire history. One of the principal fruits of that corporate . . . Continue reading →
Audio: Luther On The Theologian Of The Cross
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of speaking to the adult class at Christ United Reformed Church in Santee, CA. I was filling in for my friend and colleague, Dr Ryan Glomsrud, a ruling elder at CURC. He has been teaching a . . . Continue reading →
The Rule Of Faith And The Rule Of Worship
The rule of faith (regula fidei), indeed, is altogether one, alone immoveable and irreformable; the rule, to wit, of believing in one only God omnipotent, the Creator of the universe, and His Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under . . . Continue reading →
Owen: It is Difficult To Get Christians To Think About The Rule Of Worship
Obs. IV. That our utmost care and diligence in the consideration of the mind of God are required in all that we do about his worship.—There is nothing wherein men for the most part are more careless. Some suppose it belongs unto . . . Continue reading →
Perkins On The Rule Of Worship
The second point, is the rule of the worship: and that is, That nothing may go under the name of the worship of God, which he has not ordained in his own word, and commanded to us as his own worship. For . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Rule Of Worship: The Samaritans Were Wrong
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. The Samaritans at that time did, as we learn from the words of the woman, what is customary with those who have revolted from true godliness, to seek to shield themselves by the examples of the . . . Continue reading →
What The Spirit Is Doing Or What We Are Saying? Distinguishing Reformed And Pentecostal Piety
What happens is that contemporary evangelical and charismatic folk describe ordinary phenomena in extraordinary, apostolic terms. They identify non-apostolic phenomena as apostolic. That is cheating but it is rhetorically powerful and persuasive. Many evangelicals do not want to live in the post-canonical, in between time. It is a drag. People want a power religion. Judged against the neo-Pentecostal and charismatic claims, Reformed Christianity seems decidedly weak and powerless (see all of 2 Corinthians). Continue reading →
Heidelcast 101: Presbytopia
What’s the big deal about being Presbyterian or Reformed? After all, isn’t it enough to love Jesus? Honestly, no. Of course you should love Jesus but then what? If someone else personally paid for all your legal offenses out of his own . . . Continue reading →
Presbytopia: What It Means To Be Presbyterian
A confessional Presbyterian congregation is a place, it’s like a city. Ken Golden calls it Presbytopia. If it is a city, it’s unlike that town from which many visitors come. Guests and new members need a map to their new home. Golden . . . Continue reading →
Confessional Resources For 2016
Thanks to Reuben Settergren for setting up and maintaining these sites. The Daily Confession site takes you through the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Children’s Catechism, The Heidelberg Catechism, The Westminster Confession, The Canons of Dort, and the Belgic Confession through the year. . . . Continue reading →
The John Owen Society In Oxford, UK
The John Owen Society is pleased to announce its inaugural lecture on 25th January 2016. Rev. Dr. Lee Gatiss (Director, Church Society) will speak on “The English Calvin? The Life and Legacy of John Owen.” The setting for our first event is . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed Pubcast: Vade Mecum Toward The Reformation
Les and Tanner host the popular Reformed Pubcast and they decided to put the whole enterprise at risk once again by including me in episode 103. We discussed, among other things, the definition of the adjective Reformed and the nature and role . . . Continue reading →
Recovering The Reformed Confession For .99 On Kindle Today
In case you’ve been waiting for the best possible deal before getting your own copy of Recovering the Reformed Confession well, the Kindle version is available today for .99. You can also get for $1.99 the Kindle edition of Tributes to John Calvin: A Celebration of . . . Continue reading →
Meet Phil Baiden: A Confessional Presbyterian Pastor In The UK
The HB tends to focus on advancing the Reformation among the Reformed and Presbyterian churches in North America but we know that it is happening elsewhere. One example of the recovery of the Reformed theology, piety, and practice is the Rev. Mr. Phil Baiden, pastor . . . Continue reading →
William Perkins On Will Worship
VI. Will-worship, when God is worshipped with a naked and bare good intention, not warranted by the word of God (Col. 2:23; 1 Sam 13:9,10, 13).1 Hitherto may we add Popish superstitions in sacrifices, meats, holidays, apparel, temporary and bead-ridden prayers,2 indulgences, . . . Continue reading →
Perkins On Churches And Sects
As for the assemblies of Anabaptists, Libertines, Antinomies, Tritheists, Arians, Samosatenians, they are no Churches of God, but conspiracies of monstrous heretics judicially condemned in the primitive Church, and again by the malice of Satan renewed and revived in this age. The . . . Continue reading →
How We Lost The Psalms
In the course of time the constraint of Calvin’s ideals has gradually come to be less felt in the worship of the Reformed Churches. A modification of view as to the relations of art and worship has permitted the harmonization of congregational . . . Continue reading →
The Synod Of Dort Opposed Funeral Sermons
Where funeral sermons are not held, they shall not be introduced; and where they already have been accepted, diligence shall be exercised to do away with them by the most appropriate means. —Church Order of the Synod of Dort (1619). RESOURCES Subscribe . . . Continue reading →