I dislike endnotes generally but I really resent endnotes in academic books. This morning I was reading Scott Manetsch’s excellent volume on life of the church in Calvin’s Geneva. I wanted to read his discussion of Sabbath legislation and enforcement in Geneva. . . . Continue reading →
Have you ever used, heard, or read these cumbersome constructions: “I had had that same experience but then something else happened” or “She said that car nearly hit her”? My experience suggests that they are being used more frequently but they need . . . Continue reading →
—By Jon Hoglund. A good “Companion” introduces one to classic texts in a field and to areas of current debate in scholarly literature. Apart from Richard Muller’s monumental Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, there is no such volume for Reformed history and theology from . . . Continue reading →
After a summer re-model, the seminary bookstore is back online, which makes it again possible to order copies of Baptism, Election, and the Covenant of Grace more easily. Click on the image for your copy. It’s $1.50 plus shipping. You can also . . . Continue reading →
Reading online is great. It’s fast. It’s convenient. It’s accessible but there’s still a lot of important information that you can’t get from the web. I’m not writing against e-books, even though they still have weaknesses (e.g., footnotes don’t work and reading . . . Continue reading →
These arguments often come down to definitions. If we define culture as the sum of a series of factors including language, a web of relationships (family, community), that shapes the way we think about food, clothing, and work then culture is one . . . Continue reading →
On Twitter Anthony Bradley pointed us to a webpage by Ra McLaughlin on the Sabbath. There is good material there but there are also a couple of items that warrant discussion. The one on which I want to focus in this post . . . Continue reading →
“17. Why must he also be true God? That by the power of His Godhead He might bear in His manhood the burden of God’s wrath, and so obtain for and restore to us righteousness and life.” Almost from the beginning of . . . Continue reading →
By David Systsma—Scholars now have a new tool for the early modern religious and philosophical history in its academic context. From the beginning of the Reformation at the University of Wittenberg to the establishment of the Academy of Geneva, schools were integral . . . Continue reading →
In March I promised to post this and then promptly forgot. I was asked to write a brief introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism for a Danish translation of the catechism. Here it is. § Introduction Considering its principals, the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) . . . Continue reading →
Mark Vander Pol recently pointed us to a wiki page titled, “How to Avoid Uncomfortable Conversations About Religion.” This page is useful on a variety of levels. On the most common level, some people are pests and it offers some good advice for dealing . . . Continue reading →
One of the more frequent mistakes I see in email and online is confusion between role and roll. These are homophones. They usually make the same sounds in English but they are different words with distinct meanings. One plays a role on . . . Continue reading →
One of the more disturbing aspects of the Federal Vision program is its doctrine of final justification. Let’s be clear here: Protestants have no such thing. We do not not equivocate (use the same word in two senses at the same time) . . . Continue reading →
Guest post by the Rev. Dr. Andrea Ferrari. § In writing to you I realize how fast time has passed and how many things have happened in the last few months. We have many reasons to be grateful for we have been . . . Continue reading →
Guest post by the Rev. Mr. Jared Beaird. He took his B.A. from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and his MDiv from Westminster Seminary California. He’s a native of Montana. § Covenant Reformed Church of Missoula, Montana was provisionally accepted into membership . . . Continue reading →
In Acts 17 Luke tells the story of Paul’s encounter with the Athenian Philosophical Society. Luke mentions two philosophical schools, the Epicureans and the Stoics. The latter were looking for the universal rational principle, for the way to align themselves with the . . . Continue reading →
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, . . . Continue reading →
It has recently been argued to me that, in the various states, because the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act(s), the Uniform Child Custody Justice Enforcement Act(s), and because most congregations (and denominations) have formed non-profit corporations (in the USA congregations usually become . . . Continue reading →
For more here’s a recent Office Hours interview with Mika Edmondson on Dr King’s legacy.
One of the dirtiest little secrets about preaching is that many preachers are using what we used to call in radio “a service.” There are, or at least there used to be, businesses that sell jokes and one liners and gags and . . . Continue reading →
