Author: R. Scott Clark

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.

Of Conventions, Prayers, And Church

The Importance Of Distinguishing Sacred And Secular

by on July 20, 2016 | 12 Comments

Both the opening and closing of last night’s events are a good argument for doing away with public, shared prayers in such events. It’s not that delegates to political conventions should not pray. They should. It’s not that candidates should not pray. They should. It’s not that voters should not pray. They should. It is dubious, however, whether it is appropriate to open a common, secular, assembly with prayer. To whom are we praying? In whose name? What are we praying? As a Christian minister of the United Reformed Churches in North America I am not free to offer prayers to God that he has not authorized. I am not free to pray to any other deity than the Triune God of Scripture, to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not authorized to approach God in any other name than the name of Jesus. It is not a matter of bigotry. It is a matter of truth, eternal life, and salvation. Jesus was raised from the dead. He is the truth (John 14:6). There are not multiple ways to God. Religion is not multifaceted expression of a common religious experience. It is revealed by God to us. Continue reading →

Strangers And Aliens (21d): Be Not Surprised By Fiery Trials (1 Peter 4:12–19)

by on July 19, 2016

We live in the season or epoch (καιρὸς) of redemptive history, after the ascension and before the return of Christ, in which, from time to time, we face both informal and formal persecution for the sake of Christ. When Peter’s words might be understood to say, “For this is the season for judgment (κρίμα) to begin (ἄρξασθαι) from (ἀπὸ) God’s house…”. As Johnson notes, this is the pattern in Malachi. We might see also the whole history of national Israel from the beginning of the national covenant to its dissolution in the exile. The Lord repeatedly entered into judgment with his people and he began with them before he commissioned his (then) national people to commence holy war against the surrounding nations. These judgments were acts of purification of his people, which gets us back to the language of vs.12 above. The fire upon God’s house (following Johnson) is the fire of purification, of sanctification through suffering. Continue reading →

When A Society Turns To Skepticism

by on July 18, 2016

No amount of force, or gun-control legislation, is going to fix a society where there is no longer a sense that we have law rooted in truth, which every citizen, in every station of life, respects and takes seriously. —Star Parker

Strangers And Aliens (21c): Be Not Surprised By Fiery Trials (1 Peter 4:12–19)

by on July 13, 2016 | 1 Comment

12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when . . . Continue reading →

Resources On Continuing Revelation

by on July 12, 2016 | 1 Comment

Since the Second Great Awakening, in the 19th century, modern evangelical theology, piety, and practice has come to be dominated by various species of what are really expressions of the original Anabaptist theology, piety, and practice in the sixteenth century. They were . . . Continue reading →

Audio: How Not To Be A Heretic

by on July 11, 2016

You and I are not the first ones to read the Bible. Christians as individuals and the church as a corporation has been hearing, meditating upon, and reading God’s Word for its entire history. One of the principal fruits of that corporate . . . Continue reading →

Coming Soon: Theodore Beza On The Lord’s Supper

by on July 11, 2016

Theodore Beza lived from 1519 until 1605. This means that he was a boy when the Reformation occurred and was nearing his death as the controversy between Arminius (whom Beza taught in Geneva) and the Reformed churches was developing. In between, he . . . Continue reading →

Calvin Birthday 2016: Resources For Understanding Calvin

by on July 10, 2016 | 4 Comments

John Calvin was born on this date, 10 July 1509. He died in 1564. He was author of many volumes (including a massive Bible commentary, hundreds of personal letters, and public treatises), most famous of which is his Institutes of the Christian . . . Continue reading →