In my mind, the Old Testament model of theocracy doesn’t clearly correlate with the New Testament or Apostolic Church practices, or even the Patristics for that matter, which suggests that applying Old Testament concepts to Christian statecraft might be anachronistic or misguided. . . . Continue reading →
Author: Heidelblog
The Heidelblog has been in publication since 2007. It is devoted to recovering the Reformed confession and to helping others discover Reformed theology, piety, and practice.
Dear Abusive Men In The Church
Dear abusive men in the church, I so often feel like berating you, but in what follows I actually want to give you a compliment of sorts. You are succeeding in changing hearts and minds about a key issue facing the church . . . Continue reading →
Synod Turns Back Neland Ave CRC Appeal
Synod 2023 of the Christian Reformed Church in North America rejected an appeal by the council of Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Mich., of a Synod 2022 order that called for the congregation to rescind its decision to ordain a deacon . . . Continue reading →
Top Five Posts For the Week of July 3–9, 2023
These were the top five posts for the week beginning July 3–9, 2023. Continue reading →
Activists Are Controlling Scientific Research
A significant social-science paper, co-authored by my casual friend Michael Bailey, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Northwestern, was just retracted by the prestigious Springer-network journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. It’s worth looking at exactly why this happened. …All right: enough wordplay. In reality, anyone . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Machen On Christianity & Liberalism (46)
This is part 46 in our series from Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism. Continue reading →
Three Myths About Public School
Myth #1: Public schools are equally open to all American kids. The vast majority of children are assigned to a public school by their district, based on geography. This means that coveted public schools are allowed to turn children away based on . . . Continue reading →
Christian Nationalism’s Discomfort With The American Founding
In certain sectors of the Christian world, such patriotic excess is in marked decline. For several years a gifted set of Roman Catholic thinkers, sometimes known as integralists—Edmund Waldstein and Adrian Vermeule among them—have taken a dim view of the American founding and its subsequent . . . Continue reading →
Top Five Posts For the Week of June 26–July 2, 2023
These were the top five posts for the week beginning June 26–July 2, 2023. Continue reading →
How We Can Make Reformed Churches More Welcoming
Hospitality is vital to the life of the church. How we treat someone, whether they’re a visitor or longtime member, may affect their involvement within a church. It may also impact their decision to continue attending a church. Most of us have . . . Continue reading →
From Science To Sophistry
One way to observe the death of scientific rationality is to watch the triumph of sophistry over empirical science. We see this everywhere these days and a recent article in Scientific American is a particularly egregious example of outright sophistry. This article asserts that “human sex . . . Continue reading →
How Bright Students And Professors Are Being Destroyed By “Anti-Racism”
On the sunny first day of seminar, I sat at the end of a pair of picnic tables with nervous, excited 17-year-olds. Twelve high-school students had been chosen by the Telluride Association through a rigorous application process—the acceptance rate is reportedly around . . . Continue reading →
Beza: No Good Works Can Save You
Therefore, this is our thesis: No good works of the regenerate, even which are most excellent before others from themselves or in themselves, can endure the judgment of God, because they are imperfect, impure, and mixed with vice, and therefore they have . . . Continue reading →
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The baptism of the Holy Spirit has been a subject of debate and much discussion among Christians over the years. What exactly does it mean to be baptized in the Spirit? Is it a distinct event that occurs after conversion, as some . . . Continue reading →
Top Five Posts For the Week of June 19–25, 2023
These were the top five posts for the week beginning June 19–25, 2023. Continue reading →
Meet A Wise Guide To Fairy Tales That Can Help Illuminate The Meaning Of Life
One of great literature’s living guides includes Vigen Guroian, a now-retired professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia. Earlier this year, Oxford University Press released his second edition of “Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page: On Christian Nationalism
The West is declining rapidly and in response some American Christians have begun arguing for a return to theocracy and even for a theocratic Caesar figure to replace the secular republican form of government established in the Constitution. Here is an introduction . . . Continue reading →
DeSantis Signs Law Restricting Pronouns In Schools
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Wednesday that will prohibit a school from requiring students and teachers to use preferred pronouns and adds guidelines for books that citizens wish to challenge in schools. “We’re not doing the pronoun olympics in . . . Continue reading →
The Dispute of Tirano and the Trial of Calvin’s Orthodoxy
In the eventful sixteenth century, few people took notice of a court trial in a small town on the Italian side of the Alps. And yet, the stakes were high. It all started on May 1, 1595, when Simone Cabasso, parish priest . . . Continue reading →
When the Lord’s Supper Divides the Church
The Lord’s Supper is a sign and seal of our mystical union with Jesus Christ. It is also a means by which Jesus unites the different members of his church into one body. Our “coming together” (1 Cor. 11:17) at the Table . . . Continue reading →