Happy Richard Baxter Day to all who celebrate. Continue reading →
Comic
Comic
Happy Richard Baxter Day to all who celebrate. Continue reading →
Heidelcast Live!
In this episode Brad Isbell and Dr Clark interact with some observations from Heidelcast listener Jonathan, who was responding to a recent Heidelminicast on the topic of slow growth among confessional Reformed churches. His observations lead to a wide-ranging and lively discussion of Reformed church life, worship and more. The hosts also answer a question from Daniel about why Dr Clark has spoken about God the Son as the Lord God identified in Genesis 3:8. Continue reading →
Article
In part 2 of this series, I addressed the problems of young women who want to get married and have children yet feel discouraged and doubtful about their prospects of finding a mate. The feminist movements have taught young women to demonize . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast
In this episode, Dr. Clark talk with special guest Patrick O’Banion about his work and publications on Italian Reformer Girolamo Zanchi (1516-1590). They discuss Patrick’s most recent work, “Five Books on the Nature of God, or On the Divine Attributes, Volume I,” published by Merchant Royal Press.
First published in 1577, Reformed theologian Girolamo Zanchi’s Five Books on the Nature of God, or On the Divine Attributes is one of the most in-depth and significant treatises on theology proper written during the post-Reformation period. Exegetically driven, informed by cutting-edge scholarship, pastorally focused, and deeply engaged with the long tradition of classical Christian reflection upon God, Zanchi’s work presents and awe-inspiring vision of the who God is and what He is like, especially as He makes Himself known to His people in Christ.
In addition to a historical and theological introduction, this first of five volumes includes modern English translations of Zanchi’s letter to Prince John Casimir, his brief letter to the reader, and the complete first book of The Nature of God, which takes up the divine names as its central topic.
Patrick graduated from Westminster Seminary California (MA, Historical Theology) and earned his PhD in history at St Louis University. He was professor of History at Lindenwood University (St. Charles, MO) 2009–19. He has also published three books on early Modern Spain and numerous articles in academic journals. He is the translator of Girolamo Zanchi, The Spiritual Marriage between Christ and His Church and Every One of the Faithful. Patrick was ordained as a ruling elder in the PCA in 2008 and he is now licensed to preach by the Siouxlands Presbytery, PCA. Continue reading →
Heidelcast Live!
In this episode Dr Clark and Brad Isbell discuss ecumenism. What is it? From where does the word come (hint: it’s Greek), what should we think about it and can we be ecumenical and faithful to the Scriptures as confessed by the Reformed churches? Continue reading →
Article
Each year on October 31, confessing Protestants remember Martin Luther’s protest against the abuse of indulgences. It is called Reformation Day, and it deserves our attention. Myth 1 On October 31, 1517, Luther hammered the Ninety-Five Theses to the door of Castle . . . Continue reading →
Article
As I noted in the first part of this series, many young people want to get married and have children, yet they feel discouraged and doubt they will find a mate. Last time we focused on the problem of finding a spouse . . . Continue reading →
Article
Why Is [Covenant] Nomism So Attractive? “Good” motives can lead to bad, even deadly, theology. Only God knows what is in people’s hearts, so I am not judging or speaking about the personal intentions of those who would bring their own works . . . Continue reading →
Article
I was going to title this two-part essay “Find Girl, Marry Girl” as a follow-up to the brief series on the creational pattern for marriage and children, but some of the responses I received to it reminded me that for many young . . . Continue reading →
Article
In the first part we quickly introduced the basic (and erroneous) doctrine of covenant nomism—namely that God has established a system whereby sinners are admitted to the covenant by grace, but they stay in, retain that status, or retain the benefits received . . . Continue reading →
Article
We are approaching Reformation Day, so this seems like a good time to cover the basics again. The medieval church taught that we enter a state of grace through baptism. According to that teaching, we remain in a state of grace by . . . Continue reading →
Article
Qualifications and Caveats The decision to have children is obviously deeply personal and fraught with uncertainty (from a merely human perspective). Some readers complained that the exhortation in part 1 of this series was unnecessary and even burdensome. Dear reader, it was . . . Continue reading →
Comic
Good Grief! Continue reading →
Article
So far, we have considered the cultural pressure for parents not to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28), whether it comes from Malthusian theories of future scarcity, Paul Ehrlich’s theoretical “population bomb,” or Millennial and Gen Z fears about the state of . . . Continue reading →
Article
In the tumultuous years of the late 1960s and early 70s, in the midst of the Vietnam War, it became a truism among young people that the world was a too polluted, too violent, and too dangerous place in which to bring . . . Continue reading →
Article
So far in this series we have surveyed some significant voices in the interpretation of the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), and we have considered one of the more important documents in its background, the Scots Confession. Now it remains to consider . . . Continue reading →
Comic
Tale as old as time . . . Continue reading →
News & Announcements
Come learn covenant theology! Continue reading →
Article
In order to interpret the text of the Scots Confession and the Westminster Confession we must decide on a hermeneutic, a way of interpreting confessional texts. Often in the interpretation of confessional documents the temptation is to try to interpret a specific passage without reference to the broader context, but that is no way to read a text. Continue reading →
Article
Of the three controversies surveyed briefly in this chapter, perhaps none of them better illustrates the diminished influence of the Reformed confession, and the rise of the QIRC in the conservative Reformed churches, than the thirty-year struggle over the doctrine of justification. . . . Continue reading →