R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He is professor emeritus of church history and historical theology at Westminster Seminary California, where he taught for 29 years. He also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007 and the Heidelcast since 2009.
It was a pleasure to spend this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (Reformation weekend) with the brothers and sisters of Grace Presbyterian (PCA), Sierra Vista, AZ. Nestled amidst the hills, the town is about an hour southeast of Tucson. The weather was . . . Continue reading →
If you were a Roman Christian, whom would you prefer for your emperor? Caligula was murdered on January 24, 41 AD. Claudius died in 54 AD, probably from poisonous mushrooms. Nero “ruled” from 54 to 68 AD, when in the midst of . . . Continue reading →
The prayers had been offered, the promises read, and the psalm sung. Two princes stepped forward to receive Communion, but the deacon refused to give them the cup. The superintendent of the city’s pastors ordered a second minister present to take the . . . Continue reading →
Today, I hear Jen’s words—words meant to encourage, not discourage, to build up, not tear down, to defend the marginalized, not broker unearned power—and a thin trickle of sweat creeps down my back. If I were still in the thick of the . . . 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 →
Let us now see what is meant by the due worship of God. Its chief foundation is to acknowledge Him to be, as He is, the only source of all virtue, justice, holiness, wisdom, truth, power, goodness, mercy, life, and salvation; in . . . Continue reading →
Lex Lutheran and Calvinist Coulson (it’s a Twitter thing) were gracious to invite me to talk about the Reformation. Continue reading →
By the time I was hired at the local Contemporary Christian radio station (KBHL “New Life 95”) in 1980, the format had become what was then called “MOR” (middle of the road). Sometime after I got there, however, we started running a . . . Continue reading →
A correspondent writes to the HB to ask, in effect, if confessions are not infallible, what good are they? He asks, Westminster Confession 31:4 seems to be problematic, since it says all synods…have erred or may err, and thus are not to . . . Continue reading →
William Miller (1782–1849), a lay Bible student (later a Baptist preacher), predicted that Christ would return to earth some time between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844. One of Miller’s followers postponed the date to 22 October 1844. When Christ did . . . Continue reading →
The hit TV show Seinfeld has been called a show about nothing. One of the most pernicious falsehoods about the Bible is that it, too, is a book about nothing, that it is a random collection of ancient myths and moral aphorisms. . . . Continue reading →
What I find in my mailbox at work is rarely delightful but I was delighted to get the mail today. The good folks at Crown and Covenant sent me a copy of their Mini Psalter 2.0. It’s personalized. It’s well bound. Best . . . Continue reading →
The self-described “Federal Vision” has been with us, in its most recent incarnation, since about 1974, when Norman Shepherd began to teach that we are justified through faith and works. That’s right. A professor of theology, in an ostensibly confessional school, openly . . . Continue reading →
In 1973, Charles Merritt Nielsen imagined what might have happened had Polycarp (69–155 AD), the senior pastor of the Christian congregation in Smyrna (today Izmir, Turkey), adopted the rhetoric of theological progressives, who look for approval from the broader, unbelieving world: Polycarp . . . Continue reading →
For much of the 20th century it was a datum, a given, for many students of Calvin and the Reformed tradition that many of the English Reformed (especially the Westminster Assembly) abandoned Calvin and the Reformation doctrine of the faith and assurance. . . . Continue reading →
1. The first thing to know is that there are no good works except those works God has commanded, just as there is no sin except that which God has forbidden. Therefore, whoever wants to know what good works are as well . . . Continue reading →
11:6 Furthermore, the reverence of the law is sung, and the grace of the prophets is recognized, and the faith of the gospels is established, and the tradition of the apostles is preserved, and the joy of the church exults. Ad Diognetum . . . Continue reading →
6Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a . . . 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 →