The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 2

Before we dive into the preface of GAJ, we should shore up two points from the first installment: 1) The Modernity of Dispensationalism; and 2) The fundamental nature of the distinction between law and gospel. Dispensationalism: A Modern Paradigm Dispensationalism is a Modern . . . Continue reading →

Machen Worked & Played Harder Than You Do

It does seem to me that there can never be any true advance, and above all there can never be any true prayer, unless a man does pause occasionally, as on some mountain vantage ground, to try, at least, to evaluate the age in which he is living. And when I do that, I cannot for the life of me see how any man with even the slightest knowledge of history can help recognizing the fact that we are living in a time of sad decadence—a decadence only thinly disguised by the material achievements of our age, which already are beginning to pall on us like a new toy. Continue reading →

Review: Francis Turretin (1623–87) and the Reformed Tradition by Nicholas A. Cumming (Brill, 2021)

Nicholas A. Cumming is the Assistant Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University. Francis Turretin (1623–87) and the Reformed Tradition is an adaptation of his doctoral dissertation at King’s College London. Published in the St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History Series, the book . . . Continue reading →

Review: Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms edited by Chad Van Dixhoorn

In the last few years, we have seen a rise in the retrieval of historic Christianity. By “historic” Christianity, I mean, creedal, confessional, and catechetical: a communal dialogue of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The return to an . . . Continue reading →

A Response to Brent E. Parker and Richard J. Lucas (eds.), Covenantal and Dispensational Theologies: Four Views on the Continuity of Scripture (Part 3)

This is the final installment of a three-part review of Brent Parker and Richard Lucas’ new volume of essays wherein theologians representing traditional Reformed covenant theology, progressive covenantalism, progressive dispensationalism, and traditional dispensationalism interact on issues of continuity and discontinuity in redemptive . . . Continue reading →

A Response to Brent E. Parker and Richard J. Lucas (eds.), Covenantal and Dispensational Theologies: Four Views on the Continuity of Scripture (Part 2)

This three-part series reviews the new multi-view collection of essays, edited by Richard Lucas and Brent Parker, concerning the unity of redemptive history as expressed in various forms of covenantal and dispensational theologies. Part one considered Michael Horton’s argument for traditional Reformed . . . Continue reading →

A Response to Brent E. Parker and Richard J. Lucas (eds.), Covenantal and Dispensational Theologies: Four Views on the Continuity of Scripture (Part 1)

At my ordination, I took a vow that I hold the Westminster Standards “as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures,” expressing that these documents summarize the shape of biblical truth most accurately. This “system” of doctrine connects various . . . Continue reading →

Review: J. M. Vorster’s The Gift of Life (Part 3): What Kind Of Reformation?

The tensions and inconsistencies that I have attempted to illustrate in this book review beg another question: What kind of reformation is The Gift of Life after? The answer Professor Vorster appears to provide is one of “flourishing personhood” that roots out . . . Continue reading →