Presbyterian and Reformed congregations occupy an odd space in American Christianity. We do not really belong to American Christianity in significant ways. Our roots are not in the nineteenth-century revivals nor even in the eighteenth-century revivals. We are no part of the . . . Continue reading →
The chapter divisions we see in our Bibles were not present originally. Stephen Langton (c. 1150–1228), a Paris theologian and, later, Archbishop of Canterbury, is usually credited with introducing the divisions that we know. This is one place where we see the . . . Continue reading →
The French “Nicodemites” have long been an interest on the HB. I first wrote about them here in 2009, from which I borrow here to give some background by which to understand the value of a first-ever English translation of two early . . . Continue reading →
Some dear friends left their life in the city and moved back home a few years ago. They live in his Mom and Dad’s place in the Sandhills of Nebraska. North Platte (pop. 23,000), a hour to the south, is the nearest . . . Continue reading →
To say that John Calvin (1536–64) was a prolific and important author is to say the obvious. What is remarkable, however, is how much of what he wrote remains not only useful for the church but even vitally important. Two of his . . . Continue reading →
To see how science can change and evolve, look at theory of eugenics, which held sway over much of Western thought from the 1870s through the 1930s and beyond. Eugenics held that good or bad characteristics were passed on through heredity, and . . . Continue reading →
2 Kings 17:1–23 gives an overview as to why Israel and Judah were exiled. The very short story is that the Old Testament church turned their back on the God who had delivered them out of Egypt. Nevertheless, the same gracious and . . . Continue reading →
A correspondent to the Heidelblog writes: …I have been living in the Heidelblog lately, and have been challenged to rethink so many previous convictions. Thank you for this resource! I especially have been edified by the QIRC/QIRE idea, but thinking through it . . . Continue reading →
New Years Eve was noisy in Escondido but the fireworks really started when I joined Chortles Weakly (Brad Isbell) to help bring in 2021 with the Presbycast. We had fun with sound effects and general goofiness as our dogs both cowered (and . . . Continue reading →
Two Albuquerque, NM megachurches are being fined by the governor for disobeying regulations on gathering for worship. Both held Christmas Eve services with crowded auditoriums. In one video there are few masks evident. KOAT has the story. One congregation claims to have . . . Continue reading →
Happy New Year from the Heidelblog. Whether we think about civil politics, Covid-19, or doings in the broader evangelical world, 2020 is not a year we will soon forget. This is the 13th year of the Heidelblog (including its progenitor) and the . . . Continue reading →
…Such a picture of God’s relation to the creation is undoubtedly striking, combining as it does aspects of classical theism, theological aesthetics, panentheism, and the doctrines of continuous creation and occasionalism (about which, more presently). Far from being the product of some . . . Continue reading →
If there is a prevailing commonplace about the Romantics it is to associate them with a close and tender regard for nature. And it is true that the relating of human being to being generally considered was so central in their minds, . . . Continue reading →
In the wake of my latest essay, which cautions readers regarding Jonathan Edwards, has come questions about the role of affections and emotion in the Christian life. These questions signal how deep the Pietist tradition (see the resources below) runs in American . . . Continue reading →
There are three great questions to be faced by the PCA in 2021: Continue reading
But these same scenes present an affront to the organs of social control. There would seem to be an inherent tension between the spirit of play and “safetyism” (I parse this tension more fully in my book Why We Drive, which will . . . Continue reading →
There were a number of issues that I might have taken up in my response to Crawford Gribben and Chris Caughey’s essay, “History, Identity Politics, and the ‘Recovery’ of the Reformed Confession” in the volume On Being Reformed which space did not permit. . . . Continue reading →
The Swiss Brethren, who signed the Schleitheim, confessed (in article 6) that a Christian may not serve as a magistrate and the magistrate may not enforce religious orthodoxy and (in article 7) that Christians may not swear oaths for any purpose.60 The . . . Continue reading →
Is theocracy, i.e., an state-established religion and the state enforcement of religious orthodoxy essential to Reformed theology, piety, and practice? That is the question asked and answered recently by Craig Carter, a former Anabaptist turned Particular Baptist theologian in response a recent . . . Continue reading →
