Peace And Purity Provided By Authority: John Thomson’s Defense Of Presbyterian Church Polity (Part 4): American Presbyterian History

Francis Makemie (1657–1707) has been considered to be the Father of American Presbyterianism. Originally from Northern Ireland, he was ordained in Scotland in 1681 and was commission by his Presbytery to plant churches in the Chesapeake Bay area. Makemie, however, came in . . . Continue reading →

Should Lay People Administer The Sacraments?

A correspondent wrote to ask whether Christian laity should administer the sacraments? This is an ancient question, though typically we face it in a different form. In the Reformation, Calvin dealt with this question because midwives would administer baptism to infants in . . . Continue reading →

Review of the Reformation Study Bible Student Edition, English Standard Version

Study Bibles have a special place in my heart. As a church-going but unbelieving teenager, I did not understand the Bible and had no interest in reading it. But when I became a believer at the end of college, I really wanted . . . Continue reading →

The Holy Spirit’s Identity Politics

It is pretty common nowadays, especially on the political left, to hear people talking about “identifying” as or with different things. Some people “identify” with whatever ethnic, national, cultural, or gender identity they were actually born into (although doing that usually doesn’t . . . Continue reading →

Richard Muller—Jonathan Edwards And The Absence Of Free Choice: A Parting Of Ways In The Reformed Tradition

Lost Audio Recovered

Richard Muller’s lost lecture on Jonathan Edwards’ doctrine of free choice. Continue reading →

Twits, Scholars, And Thoughts On Theological Discussion: Thanks To Adonis Vidu

When I finished reading Adonis Vidu’s excellent new book on the divine missions to review it for the Heidelblog, I set a goal to interact with what I found most useful in the book. Rather that using the generic review tactic of . . . Continue reading →