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.

Yes, It is In The Schools

by on November 11, 2021 | 1 Comment

The genesis of CRT in education is arguably Gloria Ladson-Billings’s seminal essay “Just what is critical race theory and what is it doing in a nice field like education?” In it, she repudiates the slow progress of the civil-rights movement and concludes . . . Continue reading →

Did Providence Stop Working After 1633?

by on November 10, 2021 | 3 Comments

Recently a regular reader of this space and a valued correspondent wrote to ask about these movements and how we should think about them and especially about those who argue that the Westminster Confession requires orthodox Reformed Christians to reject the practice of textual criticism in favor of those texts that were extant at the time of the Westminster Assembly. Continue reading →

The 1619 Project Privileges Narrative Over Facts

by R. Scott Clark on November 9, 2021 3 Comments

According to a significant number of scholars of American history, one of the most serious weaknesses in the self-described 1619 Project, which argues that racism and slavery was a central motivation for the origin of the American Republic, is that it is factually inaccurate. Continue reading →

Office Hours: Pastoring During The Pandemic

by on November 8, 2021
Office Hours Video

In the best of times pastoral ministry is a challenging vocation. After all, one of the first duties of a faithful minister is to announce bad news in public. Pastors are among the first to hear when something has gone wrong in the congregation, when someone has become seriously ill or died. Ministry has become even more difficult during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading →

Does Inerrancy Apply Only To The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts Of Scripture?

by on November 7, 2021 | 1 Comment

The final authority for Christian doctrine and the Christian life, as the Westminster Divines wrote, the Word of God in the original languages. This is why it is so important that our pastors and teachers receive a genuine education in the original languages and why we should expect them to continue learn and progress in their knowledge and use of the original languages in pastoral ministry. For centuries before the Renaissance and Reformation, most the ministers in the Western church lost the ability to read the Scriptures in the original languages. Indeed, to find an illiterate priest (one who could not read at all) was not unknown. In the Greek church, of course, they could at least read the New Testament but it was not until the Renaissance that the knowledge of Hebrew and Greek began to return more widely and to be taught again the universities, where pastors were educated. The Reformed churches understood and appreciated the value of the knowledge of the original languages and expected the pastors to learn and use them. Continue reading →

What’s Going On Right Now: Sex, Race, Politics, and Power with Dr. W Robert Godfrey (3)

by on November 5, 2021 | 3 Comments

In this third session of Dr. Godfrey’s Sunday school class at the Escondido URC, he develops how Christianity fared under Christendom. He explains the trajectory of challenges Christianity faced as it became wealthy and influential and, sadly, moved away from the gospel. . . . Continue reading →

There Is A Confessional Reformed Church In Lithuania And Poland

by on November 3, 2021 | 1 Comment

Dariusz Bryćko writes, “After about two years of weekly Bible study and prayer meetings, on October 17 our church plant had the privilage to inaugurate regular public worship. Two Lithuanian ministers traveled to Warsaw to join us for this event, since we’ve . . . Continue reading →

Christ The Only Way, Doctrinal Confusion, And A Twofold Kingdom

by on November 2, 2021 | 1 Comment

A few years ago President Trump nominated Russell Vought to a post in his administration. Opponents of the nominee found an article written by Vought in which he criticized a Wheaton College professor for advocating a pluralist approach to salvation. During his confirmation hearing the ACLU bizarrely attacked Vought for denying religious liberty. The ACLU conflated Vought’s religious views with his policy views (perhaps because that is what the ACLU now does). Sen. Sanders of Vermont grilled Vought over his public, Christian conviction that faith in Jesus is the only way of salvation. Either Sanders was being cynical or he is incredibly ill-informed about a basic tenet of orthodox Christianity. Continue reading →

Reformation Day, The Trinity, And The Culture War

by on October 30, 2021 | 9 Comments

Some objected to the critics of the Federal Vision that the social crisis is too great that to be arguing about the Federal Vision. That objection has resurface in recent days in the wake of a social media post in which a prominent member of the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement and a Baptist theologian has argued, “The Father is the Father because he sends the Son. The Son is the Son because he submits to the Father’s will. The Spirit is the Spirit because the Father and the Son send Him. There is no Trinity without the order of authority and submission” (emphasis original).  As one might imagine, this line of reasoning has prompted a considerable response. In response to the critics, some have re-stated the same argument made by the Federal Visionists and their enablers in 2008: “Are we really going to start arguing about ESS again? With all the other stuff going on in the world, this is the battle some of you want to fight? Again? I seriously do not understand some of you. Like, at all.” Continue reading →

Bob Godfrey On “What’s Going on Right Now: Sex, Race, Politics & Power” (2)

by on October 30, 2021 | 1 Comment

Bob Godfrey has been teaching the Adult Sunday School class in (what is now) the Escondido United Reformed Church for forty years. Some of that material has made its way into print and, in that way, perhaps you have benefited directly from . . . Continue reading →