On April 16, 1521, Martin Luther arrived in the city of Worms to appear before the imperial court of the Holy Roman Empire. The previous year, Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against the German monk for his writings. Now Luther . . . Continue reading →
Reformation History
Hart: The History Between The Reformation And Modernity Matters
To hear some people talk, you would think that the birth of freedom, democracy, and the modern world started with the Protestant Reformation. In fact, the coincidence of faith and modernity has less to do with Martin Luther than with John Calvin, . . . Continue reading →
Maltby: Fawkes Was A Terrorist
The child was nine years old. She was to be the oldest survivor of her murdered family: the terrorists planned to hold her prisoner, after an explosion had killed her father, mother, and 11-year-old brother. Her survival would depend on submitting to . . . Continue reading →
Luther And The Jews: From Over-Realized Eschatology To Bitter Disillusionment
I also noted on Friday that it is the unusual, not the usual, which is often most interesting to the historian. Luther’s 1543 treatise is not unusual; but this was not the only book he wrote on the Jews; and the other . . . Continue reading →
What Would Calvin Say About Premillennialism?
In 2007, a prominent evangelical (Bible church) pastor suggested that were Calvin alive today he would be premillennial and that true Calvinists should be (pre-trib, Dispensational) premillennialists.1 Some of us were a little surprised about this breakthrough in Calvin studies coming from . . . Continue reading →
Dueling Jubilees: How The Calvinists And Lutherans First Celebrated The Reformation
Interestingly, it was Calvinists, not Lutherans, who in 1617 first proposed a centennial marking Luther’s attack on indulgences. Alarmed by an increasingly assertive Tridentine Catholic Church and lacking legal status in the Holy Roman Empire, early in that year church and royal . . . Continue reading →
5 Reformation Doctrines That Still Transform The Church
By most accounts, the Reformation began when a young monk challenged ecclesiastical and academic authorities to debate a controversial practice that had developed in the late-medieval period. Why do we continue to remember it roughly five hundred years later? Waving off Martin . . . Continue reading →
Luther On Bound Choice: Celebrating The Recovery Of The Doctrine Of Sola Gratia (Part 2)—Erasmus Of Rotterdam
When Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) was born, the printing press was about fifteen years old. Paul II was Pope. Frederick III was Holy Roman Emperor. What we think of today as the Netherlands was ruled by the House of Burgundy. Luther would not . . . Continue reading →
Luther On Bound Choice: Celebrating The Recovery Of The Doctrine Of Sola Gratia (Part 1)
In 1580, when the Lutherans and the Reformed met at Montbeilard, when the topic turned to predestination, Theodore Beza (1519–1605) rose, lifted his copy of Luther’s Concerning Bound Choice (De servo arbitrio), and said, “We stand with Luther.”1 The Lutheran representatives suggested . . . Continue reading →
Video: Did the Reformation Cause Secularization?
Professor and Reformed theologian Michael Horton responds to Tom Holland’s analysis and tries to answer the question of whether the Protestant Reformation did indeed lead to the secularization of the West. Continue reading →
Video: WSC 2024 Reformation Day Lecture “Let God Be God!”
Dr. Michael Horton gives the annual Reformation Lecture at Westminster Seminary California, entitled “Let God Be God!” Continue reading →
Re-Formation Conference January 17–19, 2025 Jacksonville, FL
Don’t miss the RE-FORMATION Conference, January 17-19, hosted by Paramount Church at the Salem Centre. Featured speakers include Michael Horton, Ashley Null, Jonathan Linebaugh, Dorothea Wendebourg, and R. Scott Clark. The conference is presented by the Wittenberg Center for Reformation Studies. Registration . . . Continue reading →
Riddlebarger On The Reformation Principles Of Interpretation
Three major presuppositions underlie the historic Protestant system. The first is that the New Testament should explain the Old. This is one of the most basic principles of Bible study. The New Testament must be seen as the final authority and interpreter . . . Continue reading →
Whence the Reformation Solas?
From where do we get the Reformation solas? I get this question with some frequency, usually around Reformation Day. Here is a preliminary answer: The ideas were present from the earliest stage of the Reformation, but the actual phrases developed over time. . . . Continue reading →
A Topical Index To Luther’s Sermons
Trans. J. N. Lenker et al. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001) prepared by Shane Lems, M.Div © 2007 Shane Lems. All Rights Reserved. Usage: You may link to this index but it may not be copied wholesale without the permission of the author . . . Continue reading →
PT730 Studies In Distintives And Issues In The United Reformed Churches In North America (URCNA)
A directed study intended to supplement the existing preparation of URCNA students studying for the pastoral ministry and to focus their preparation for classical examinations. Prerequisite (may be taken simultaneously): HT/ST615 Reformed Confessions. 1 credit (without a term paper) or 2 Credits . . . Continue reading →
The Decades of Heinrich Bullinger
Fifty Sermons Divided into Five Decades Containing the Chief and Principle Points of Christian Religion (1587 English Translation) Table of Contents Prepared by Ryan Glomsrud M.A. (D.Phil. Cand., Pembroke College, Oxon) Volume I The Preface (pp. 1-11) Of the Four General Synods . . . Continue reading →
Summary Of Zwingli On Baptism
Exposition of the Articles (1524) © R. Scott Clark, 2000; 2014. Baptism is being enrolled by an “oath of allegiance” (sacramentum) into the church visible, an initiation into the people of God. If there is one people of God, with one faith, in . . . Continue reading →
A Brief Outline Of Luther’s Bondage Of The Will
© R. S. Clark, 2000; 2014. I Luther’s Critique of Erasmus (2/3) II Luther’s Positive Development of the Doctrine of Predestination from SS (1/3) Major propositions: 1 A fallen sinner is totally unable to cooperate with divine grace. 2 Salvation is exclusively . . . Continue reading →
Select Bibliography Of The Reformation
(rev. January 2006) © R. Scott Clark, 2006. All Rights Reserved. 1. References Bagchi, David and David C. Steinmetz, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). Bauman, M., M. Klauber, ed., Historians of the Christian Tradition (Nashville, 1995). Brady, T. A., . . . Continue reading →