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 AP ran a story in October 2022 on the naming of seven new Roman “saints.” According to the story, “Two of the new saints were Americans: Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the U.S., and Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th-century . . . Continue reading →
I was driving through town, and I noticed the logo on a Ford truck and was impressed by how well the artwork has held up since the 1920s. This made me think of companies that have tried to change their brand or . . . Continue reading →
In The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis worried about the effects of replacing sin and forgiveness with disease and therapy. His chief concern is that we would lose our humanity. This remains a great concern. Recently, one of the Supremes, not Diana Ross . . . Continue reading →
Our older theologians used to say that we are justified in order that we might be sanctified.1 The order in that expression was intentional. Before the Reformation many in the church had come to reverse justification and sanctification. Continue reading →
Each fall I teach a course on the ancient church and a seminar on patristics. For the first half of the seminar, we use Michael Holmes’s third edition of the Apostolic Fathers, a collection of texts mainly from the second century. It did . . . Continue reading →
Under the types and shadows of the Old Testament, before the death of Christ, circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant promise to be a God to believers and to their children. That bloody sign and seal has been replaced by a . . . Continue reading →
Having looked in part one at how the Reformed church has recognized Scripture’s distinction between the law and the gospel, we will look in this article at how this distinction plays out in warning passages. A Look at Some Warning Passages There . . . Continue reading →
“Word and sacrament piety” is perhaps an expression with which you are unfamiliar. It is a shorthand way of saying that the way God has ordained to work in the lives of his people is through the ministry of the Word, chiefly . . . Continue reading →
Return to sender? Continue reading →
There is concern by some in the Reformed community that there is too much emphasis on grace in the doctrine of sanctification, and not enough emphasis on obedience and even godly fear. The question has arisen about how this matter should be addressed. Continue reading →
Happy New Year from the Heidelberg Reformation Association! This is the eighteenth year of the Heidelblog, and since 2012 we have had more than 13.3 million views and four million visitors. Thank you to our loyal readers and supporters. If you are . . . Continue reading →
The case of the murder of Charlie Kirk is a stark example of the amateur confusion of research presented for research conducted. The most probable explanation for the murder of Charlie Kirk is that it was done by a lone gunman, just . . . Continue reading →
As a young boy I certainly believed in Santa. We made the annual cookie oblation and went to bed under the conditional covenant that he would not come if we did not sleep (or at least stay in bed). Nevertheless, I think . . . Continue reading →
Ben Shapiro recently gave a speech in which he issued a strong indictment against conspiracy theories and those who traffic in them. He warned, [t]he conservative movement is also in danger from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle . . . Continue reading →
Part of Saturday was spent trading tweets with Matthew Milliner, who teaches Art History at Wheaton College. We had a good, genial conversation from two different confessional traditions. I am not sure, but judging by his arguments, I inferred that Matthew may . . . Continue reading →
And they were devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communion, that is, the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers. (Acts 2:42)1 Teaching The first words to consider here are “devoting” and “teaching.” The first expression . . . Continue reading →
Matt Tuininga, a friend and former student, wrote an interesting post at Christian in America in which he tells about the conflict between the consistory and some of the people in Geneva over the question of how the people should name their . . . Continue reading →
As 2025 draws to a close, you may know by now that this is the 1,700th anniversary of the promulgation of the creed of the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. This was a monumental event, first because the Council of Nicaea . . . Continue reading →
Being included into the visible, Christ-confessing covenant community (the church) is only the beginning of the story of our Christian life. There is still the living of the Christian life. As the Reformed churches understand Scripture, the church is essential to the . . . Continue reading →
What’s the date again? Continue reading →