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 has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
No chapter in this volume, so far, relies on MacArthur’s debt to Dispensationalism more than chapter 11, where he addresses the parable of the soils in Matthew 13. The Problem Of Dispensationalism He begins by recalling our Lord’s words, which he addressed . . . Continue reading →
There is a good deal of talk in contemporary evangelicalism about the rise, nature, and effect of so-called postmodernism, a movement in architecture, literature, philosophy, and religion associated with a circle of French writers such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. In . . . Continue reading →
Many years ago, at an ecclesiastical meeting, there was a worship service. The minister preaching was retired but something of a hero in the denomination. He and others had stood for the truth when many others had taken an easier and more . . . Continue reading →
Sometimes people who come from the non-confessional evangelical world look at confessional churches as though they are hide-bound traditionalists. Doubtless, that is sometimes true. The words “we have never done it that way” have been heard from time to time in Reformed . . . Continue reading →
Rage against the machine. Continue reading →
The confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches are facing a challenge that I have not seen since I first joined St John Reformed Church over 40 years ago: a shortage of pastors. For decades, there have been more candidates for ministry than there . . . Continue reading →
Introduction None of us knows the specifics of the future. There are a few things that every Christian knows from Scripture about the future. We know that Christ shall return (Acts 1:11), that there shall be a bodily resurrection (1 Thess 4:16), . . . Continue reading →
11Blessed are you whenever they mock you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you, lying against you. 12Rejoice and exult because your reward is great in heaven. For thus they persecuted the prophets before you. (Matt 5:11–12) During . . . Continue reading →
Whether Calvin was a covenant theologian has been a matter of considerable confusion and controversy in modern Calvin studies. The answer to this question has usually been determined by whether one considers the rise of covenant theology a positive or negative development, . . . Continue reading →
Last time we answered the question: who should go to seminary? The answer was that anyone may go to seminary, but not everyone should go to seminary. Today we will focus on the second part of the answer: who should not go . . . Continue reading →
Because the MacArthurite sect of Dispensationalism (we might say post-modified Dispensationalism but not quite Progressive Dispensationalism) intersects only occasionally and tangentially with the Reformation, the defenders of Lordship Salvation assume that any critique of the system is necessarily a defense of Zane . . . Continue reading →
I was once asked a good and important question: who should go to seminary? The answer to this question is in two parts: anyone, but not everyone. First, anyone may go to seminary. Since I teach at a seminary (Westminster Seminary California), . . . Continue reading →
I realized recently that I have been neglecting my responsibility to save English grammar in America. My sincerest apologies, but the Grammar Guerrilla is back to observe and complain about the expression “too good of.” We hear it most often on sports-talk . . . Continue reading →
In Article X, under the heading, “On Nationalism and Policy Priorities,” the Statement says: WE AFFIRM that nations possess an inviolable right to establish justice and safeguard the peace and prosperity of their own citizens. We affirm that implementing Christian Nationalism in . . . Continue reading →
I am in the midst of an interesting discussion of baptism with a friend. This friend has Baptist convictions, yet he understands Reformed theology better than many of the Reformed. He is quite sympathetic to historic and confessional Reformed theology. For example, . . . Continue reading →
On 20 September 2021, T. E. Bunch et al. published what became a hotly (pun intended) controverted article, which claimed to have found evidence of a “Tunguska sized airburst” over Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near . . . Continue reading →
Late last month I had the pleasure of talking with Nick from the Guilt, Grace, Gratitude podcast about the covenant of redemption. This is an important, if neglected, aspect of Reformed theology. From all eternity the Father, Son, and Spirit loved a . . . Continue reading →
One of the unfortunate aspects of the intra-Dispensational argument—that is, the Lordship Salvation controversy—is that both sides appealed to the Reformation, but neither side represented the Reformation theology, piety, and practice. Dispensationalism is a nineteenth-century phenomenon. Its roots are in the holiness . . . Continue reading →
More fun with Lutherans. Continue reading →
One of the biggest developments of the modern era of sports is the rise of the “free agent.” Under “free agency” an athlete is bound to a team only for a short period of time, at the end of which he becomes . . . Continue reading →