Thus combining the style of Oscar Wilde with the convictions of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Kappeyne had to be the bête noire to one as absolutely earnest, and earnest for absolutes, as Kuyper. To top it all off, Kappeyne, reared in a . . . Continue reading →
Evangelicalism And The Reformed View Of The Law
Note: This post first appeared in February 2008. Since that time the original link to Pulpit Magazine has been taken down. The archives at Pulpit Magazine only go back to 2012. § At Pulpit Magazine, Nathan Busenitz is tackling the question of . . . Continue reading →
Nebraska!
The New Normal
Internet pornography is probably the number one pastoral problem in the world today. I wonder if it is set to become yet more so: as the social shame dimension passes away, it will be harder to maintain discipline on this issue. The . . . Continue reading →
Untangling Webs Of Assumptions About Baptism
Wendy writes, I remain confused as to why God in being ‘more generous’ has actually also made it ‘more ambiguous’. Wheras under the Old Covenant the command (and its benefits) were explicit, under the New they must be deduced by inference…. I . . . Continue reading →
Aboard The USS Midway
Lingering Doubts About Baptism
I could not understand why, given the Old Testament emphasis of God’s working through families, the New Testament did not signal a change in that policy. It seemed passing strange to me that the new covenant sacrament included women and Gentiles but . . . Continue reading →
Machen: The Gospel Makes Men Love The Law
The gospel does not abrogate God’s law, but it makes men love it with all their hearts. How is it with us? The law of God stands over us; we have offended against it in thought, word and deed; its. majestic “letter” . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: David Strain On the Tasks and Trials of Ministry
David Strain is Minister of Teaching and Mission at First Presbyterian Church (PCA), Jackson, MS. At the time we recorded this interview, he was recently Senior Pastor at Main Street PCA, Columbus, MS. He has also served a Free Church congregation in . . . Continue reading →
Reformed Is Enough Or Why I Wrote RRC
David J. Miller published a lengthy account yesterday of his journey out of the OPC to Eastern Orthodoxy and to Anglicanism of different sorts and back to confessional Presbyterian and Reformed theology, piety, and practice. It’s a long-ish piece but it’s a . . . Continue reading →
We Neglected The Reformers On Worship
Although I had been raised in Methodist and Presbyterian churches and attended Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, was ordained in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, served pastorates in that church and in the PCA, I nevertheless found myself at different times in my . . . Continue reading →
Everyone Is Subject To The QIRE
On a recent trip I began James D. Bratt’s, terrific new biography of Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920), Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat. I knew (or thought I knew) the outlines of Kuyper’s life but there was an aspect that I did not . . . Continue reading →
The Cult of Wikipedia
Over at more than 95 theses they have been discussing Wikipedia. We’ve all been given reasons not to trust WP, most notably the so-called “vanity edits” made by staffers on capital hill.I’ve been troubled by the entries on covenant theology and most . . . Continue reading →
Ursinus On The Instruction Of Covenant Children
Touching the catechesis of children in the Jewish church, the Old Testament abounds in many explicit commands. In the 12th and 13th chapters of Exodus, God commands the Jews to give particular instruction to their children and families in relation to the . . . Continue reading →
What About Noah and Covenant Theology?
Taylor asks the question on the PB. My reply below: There are resources on covenant theology here. I would especially encourage you to read this collection of quotations from older writers on CT. There is a brief history here. My own views . . . Continue reading →
A Short Biography of Voetius
Born in the small fortified city of Heusden as the son of Paulus Voet and Maria de Jongeling, Gisbertus (or Gijsbert) Voetius’s early years were dominated by the experience of war. Heusden was on the front line in both a military and . . . Continue reading →
What Is The Substance Of The Covenant Of Grace?
For most of 2,000 years the Christian church was universally agreed that there is one way of salvation, that the history of redemption was essentially unified. In the post-apostolic church this consensus began to develop very early in the 2nd century in . . . Continue reading →
Disagreeing With You Isn’t Unloving
Have you ever noticed that when differences of opinion come up between the confessionalists and the “can’t we all get along” (hereafter abbreviated “cwaga”) folks, that incredibly shrill and unloving voices come from the latter group directed towards the former group, all . . . Continue reading →
Black, White, and Reformed
When this post first appeared in January 2008, there was an interesting discussion at the now-defunct Reformingchurches.org on what it means to be black and Reformed. As a white guy with a long interest in black culture (my grammar school and Jr High . . . Continue reading →
Censorship By The Humorless And The Top Men
“And in a world where evangelical comment is increasingly censored from within by the humourless and the Top Men, a samizdat operation is unlikely to lose its purpose in the near future.”* —Carl Trueman, “On Mortification and Narnia” — * Samizdat = . . . Continue reading →