The Significance Of Paul’s Silence On Caesar Acknowledging Christ’s Lordship

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur . . . Continue reading →

Sub-Christian Nationalism? (Part 2)

Until the early twentieth century, most Christians used some distinction between nature and grace, and the sacred and the secular. In the 1970s and 80s, however, American Christian fundamentalists (e.g., Jerry Falwell) began to use the adjective “secular” disparagingly. Similarly, the use . . . Continue reading →

How Calvin’s Twofold Kingdom Distinction Could Have Prevented ECT

Indeed, given Calvin’s distinction between two spheres of God’s kingdom, we need not agree with Mormons on theological questions in order to cooperate with them socially. We may even cooperate with Muslims, Hindus, and agnostics (e.g., the late Nat Hentoff 1925–2017, who became an outspoken critic of abortion on demand) who share certain basic convictions about civil life. To cooperate, we need only agree that there exists certain fixed, embedded laws in creation. Continue reading →

Samuel Would Like A Word With Americans Hankering For A King

Samuel Relating to Eli the Judgements of God upon Eli's House, oil on canvas by John Singleton Copley, 1780. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut.

Understandably, for many American Christians, the fight or flight instinct has kicked in. They are made to pay taxes to support institutions—for example, public schools—that demonstrably work against their interests and seek to subvert the authority of parents in the family by . . . Continue reading →

The Original Christian Nationalism

We desire all people, whom the benign influence of our clemency rules, to turn to the religion which tradition from Peter to the present day declares to have been delivered to the Romans by blessed Peter the Apostle, the religion which it . . . Continue reading →

What Can We Do With Natural Law?

The two principal reasons the Heidelblog exists (and its parent organization, the Heidelberg Reformation Association) are, first, to encourage Reformed confessing Christians to recover their confession, i.e., both the confessional documents but also the broader and classic Reformed theology, piety, and practice, . . . Continue reading →

Oklahoma Governor Claims State For Christ. Controversy Ensues

After his re-election as governor of the State of Oklahoma, the hon. Kevin Stitt appeared at a prayer rally. He said the following: STITT: “Father, we just claim Oklahoma for you. Every square inch, we claim it for you in the name . . . Continue reading →

Letter To The Editor Regarding “A Radical Narrowing Of The Gospel”

Editor’s Note: The following is a letter to the editor in response to an article by the Rev. Mr. Doug Barnes, “A Radical Narrowing of the Gospel,” in The Outlook vol. 72, issue 5 (Sept/Oct, 2022). § Dear Sir, I just read . . . Continue reading →

Lamenting Christendom

What difference should the visible church make in the broader culture? How significant should it be? How one answers this question tells us something about how one views the relations between Christ and culture and the evident death of Christendom. Defining Christendom . . . Continue reading →

The Crisis Of The Hour: Christ And Culture

There may be no more pressing issue before Christians (as individuals) and the visible church (as a corporate body) than the question of Christ and culture. Much of what concerns us all just now goes back, in one way or another, to . . . Continue reading →

A Word About “R2K” (4): The Church

There have been rumblings and indications for several months (or more) online, on social media and in the email list for URCNA pastors that something was forthcoming and now it is before us. The Synod of the URCNA convenes in 12 days in Buffalo, NY. There the churches will consider an overture from Classis Michigan that seeks to address the controversy via “pastoral advice.” Continue reading →