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.
The nature, origins, and status of revivals and revivalism is a contested issue among scholars and popular writers on these topics. It is a question even whether revivals and revivalism are properly distinguished and if so how? There are narratives about revivals . . . Continue reading →
Bible studies (under the right circumstances and with the right leadership) are great and useful. Home groups can be useful and edifying (with some qualifications) but they are no substitute for the preaching of the gospel. Continue reading →
A spontaneous marathon revival among students and faculty at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, resulted in a week-long shut-down of classes and reached out to other colleges and communities from coast to coast this month. Students, faculty, townspeople, and visitors wept, and . . . Continue reading →
But Yahweh is in his holy temple;let all the earth keep silence before him (Hab 2:20) Continue reading →
What do you cherish most about the doctrine of adoption?
There are three things that should be mentioned. First, it is the God by whom we have been adopted that makes adoption significant. Continue reading →
As a young evangelical convert, I learned three things right away: God commands us to pray and read our Bibles every morning (the quiet time), if we listen closely enough we can hear direct revelation from God apart from Scripture (the still, . . . Continue reading →
The question has been raised as to just what the divines might have meant by the noun “psalms” in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1648).1 WCF 21.5 says, 5. The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable . . . Continue reading →
Dad jokes abound even in the church office. Continue reading →
This essay was my response to an 2007 article by Nancy Morganthaler on the failure of the church growth movement (HT: Justin Taylor). It is necessarily somewhat autobiographical. My criticisms of the church growth movement are partly theoretical and partly practical, to borrow an . . . Continue reading →
The value of church history is not always immediately obvious to everyone. In particular, Americans seem generally allergic to history. This is true of American Christians who are influenced by the American prejudice against history. Look at the History Channel (but only . . . Continue reading →
I wrote this and “How Not To Train Pastors (Part 1)” and “How Not To Train Pastors (Part 2)” near the very beginning of the Heidelblog in 2007. This portion of the essay began as a response to a correspondent on the . . . Continue reading →
I wrote this and How Not To Train Pastors (Part 1) near the very beginning of the Heidelblog in 2007. As high-speed internet service was becoming more widespread, online education was beginning to catch on and many seminaries were beginning to adopt it. . . . Continue reading →
I wrote this near the very beginning of the Heidelblog in 2007. As high-speed internet service was becoming more widespread, online education was beginning to catch on and many seminaries were beginning to adopt it. The world has changed since then. The . . . Continue reading →
Dad jokes abound. Continue reading →
This is the Heidelblog and we are all about the Heidelberg Catechism (1563). On this day, in 1563, the Catechism was published in German. If you are unfamiliar with the Catechism or catechisms generally you should know that a catechism is a . . . Continue reading →
To my friends, no I am not, as far as I know, in imminent danger of death. My enemies shall have to wait a bit longer. My reflections this morning are inspired by a series of posts at TGC including “The Song Scott . . . Continue reading →
Americans know in their heart of hearts they are going to die, but they do not like to admit it. It is a mark of our post-Christianity that this culture is so obsessed with youth and beauty. Most folk do not die . . . Continue reading →
Because the Baptist tradition(s) operate from a set of assumptions that are, in certain important ways, distinct from those with which the Reformation churches operate regarding the history of redemption it can be a challenge for those of us within the Reformed . . . Continue reading →
More than twenty years ago, in the summer of 2001, Mike Horton and I were sitting beside a hotel swimming pool one evening during Synod Escondido, along with several ministers from our federation (denomination) of churches (the United Reformed Churches in North . . . Continue reading →
It’s not adding up. Continue reading →