The Catechism Was Meant To Be Heard More Than Read

This year on the Heidelcast the HRA has been releasing an audio version of one question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism daily 6 days a week. The first reason that we are doing this is to get the catechism into peoples ears, heads, and . . . Continue reading →

Repentance Comes From Faith

Believers Repent, Unbelievers Do Not

The Westminster Shorter Catechism has a helpful, biblically-based definition of repentance: Q. 87. What is repentance unto life? A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy . . . Continue reading →

The Mainline Is Dying

If you aren’t a baby boomer or a student of religious history, it can be hard to fathom the cultural influence and social cohesion that once resided in mainline Protestantism. At its height in 1965, mainline Protestant churches counted 31 million members . . . Continue reading →

Against Berenson: Why Abortion Should Not Be Legal

The classic Reformed theologians distinguished between three uses of the moral law (e.g., the Ten Commandments): 1) the pedagogical use, whereby sinners come to know the greatness of their sin and misery; 2) the civil use, whereby the moral law—traditionally both tables . . . Continue reading →

New Resource Page: On Mainline (Liberal) Christianity In North America

The expression “mainline church” is drawn from an old-money neighborhood in Philadelphia known as “the main line.” The mainline churches were what are sometimes called the “tall steeple” church along the mainline. Scholars of American Christianity sometimes speak of the “Seven Sisters . . . Continue reading →

Parachurch or Pastoring (Part 2)

Previously began a discussion about parachurch ministries in relation to the church. The point was to raise a concern about how, frequently, parachurch ministries implicitly, if (perhaps) unintentionally, try to usurp the visible, institutional church’s primary role in God’s plan to save . . . Continue reading →