Protestant churches, i.e., those that still believe and confess the theology, piety, and practice recovered in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, celebrate Reformation Day on October 31. This is the day, in 1517, that Dr Martin Luther (1483–1546), a German . . . Continue reading →
As early as the late 4th century, challenged by a variety of claims of religious authority, many of whom claimed to have an unwritten secret tradition or revelation, Basil the Great (c.330–79), one of the Cappadocian Fathers, rather than standing on the . . . Continue reading →
It is October 2017. 500 years ago this month Martin Luther wrote 95 theses against the abuse of indulgences in the Western church. We have traced the Reformation to this date for a long time but as you and I have discussed . . . Continue reading →
It’s available in DVD, BluRay, and digital on-demand. My BluRay copy arrived in the mail today. It goes on sale October 2. Here’s my blurb: It has been a little more than a decade since Collin Hansen called attention to the Young, . . . Continue reading →
It is a general, if unstated, assumption among moderns that whatever the causes of the Reformation might have been, they must be long past. Often, however, that assumption is ill-founded. In fact, the fundamental causes for the Reformation (e.g., the Roman denial . . . Continue reading →
Travis Fentiman wrote to let me know about a resource site he has compiled which is built on Spurgeon’s recommended list of commentaries and upon resources such as the Post-Reformation Digital Library (PRDL). It is a gateway to older, online biblical commentaries. . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast listener Wes, who describes himself as a “newcomer to the Reformed faith,” writes to ask for recommendations to build a “firm foundation in Reformed theology.” Here are some preliminary recommendations. You are welcome to add your recommendations in the comments. To . . . Continue reading →
This is season 8 of Office Hours and we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. This is part 2 of a three-part introduction to the Reformation. In part 1 we looked briefly at the background to the Reformation in the . . . Continue reading →
This is season 8 of Office Hours and we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. In this episode we look at the background to the Reformation in the medieval church, how the medieval church set the stage for the Reformation . . . Continue reading →
Since the Second Great Awakening, in the 19th century, modern evangelical theology, piety, and practice has come to be dominated by various species of what are really expressions of the original Anabaptist theology, piety, and practice in the sixteenth century. They were . . . Continue reading →
If you are near Oxford (UK) on 4 May 2016 and interested in confessional Reformed theology and piety then you may be interested in hearing, Dr Jonathan Gibson, Associate Minister at Cambridge Presbyterian Church and author of From Heaven He Came and . . . Continue reading →
We confess sola gratia (by grace alone) and sola fide (through faith alone), as the response to the Romanist doctrine that we are justified and saved by the infusion of a medicinal substance (which they call grace), with which we are said to cooperate unto sanctification and thence, eventually, to justification. No, salvation (deliverance from the wrath to come, righteousness with God, and progressive sanctification) is God’s free gift. Grace is not a medicinal substance with which we are infused. It is God’s favor merited for us by Christ’s perfect righteousness earned for us and freely imputed to us by God. Faith is not a virtue formed by love but the gift of God with which we freely receive, rest in, and trust Christ and all of his righteous and suffering obedience for us. Continue reading →
Contrary to what you may have been taught, the world was made to be known and you were made to know it. Contrary to what you may have been told, the world around you, though corrupted by sin, is not an illusion and evil is not winning. Believe your eyes and ears but do not believe everything you read and hear. You can and should, however, trust that God’s Word is reliable and true, that Christ is the Saviour, that he really came, that he was really raised, and that he is really coming again to make all things right again. Until that time you and I have a great calling to trust Christ with all our heart and out of that confidence to serve him in this world by loving God and our neighbour. Find a true church where the gospel is purely preached, where the sacraments are purely administered, and where they love the people enough to practice loving, gracious discipline. Continue reading →
It is the fall conference season. Here are three gatherings about which you might want to to know. One confronts the problem of identity: do we define ourselves the way the culture would have us do it or is there a better way? The second gathers a stellar group of Reformed teachers to help us through “end times” and the third focuses on the Biblical and Reformation doctrine of “Scripture alone.” Continue reading →
Confessional Reformed theology, piety, and practice does not seem to be sweeping the field in North America but it is prospering in other parts of the globe. In this episode Dan Borvan joins us to get us up to speed about the . . . Continue reading →
I talked with Rick Wiles on Monday. The show is Trunews and it is heard on radio stations all over America, across the globe, and on the web at TruNews.com. We discussed the problem of the fracture of the church, how to . . . Continue reading →
As you read this the churches, the theology, piety, and practice represented by confessionally Reformed and Presbyterian Churches is almost statistically invisible. Of the 60 million evangelicals in North America only a tiny fraction actually identify with the confessional Reformed and Presbyterian churches . . . Continue reading →
Darryl Hart has a thought-provoking post today on Rick Warren’s recent comments about what Rome and Protestants have in common. Warren’s comments are a sterling reminder of the importance of knowing our church history. Yes, Christians of all the major traditions receive . . . Continue reading →
I’m not a Luddite. I bought my first computer, an Atari ST, in 1985. I began using email (CompuServe) before the internet was made available to the public. It was very exciting when CompuServe and AOL users could email to each other. At . . . Continue reading →
William Perkins (1558–1602) is among one of the most important English Reformed theologians. Arguably, he and John Owen (1616–1683) are the two most important English Reformed theologians. Remarkably, his works have been out of print and largely inaccessible for the centuries. Now, . . . Continue reading →