It’s Here: Muller on Calvin and the Reformed Tradition

This is going to be fun. Anyone who is interested in the history of Reformed theology, in finding out what the classical Reformed authors (of which Calvin was one) actually said, must get to grips with the work of Richard Muller. By . . . Continue reading →

Children Can Memorize But Are The Adults Willing?

Parents and other catechists have sometimes said or implied to me that children just aren’t able to memorize in the modern age and therefore we shouldn’t insist that they memorize Scripture or catechism. This morning I had reason to doubt that. I . . . Continue reading →

Malthus or Althusius? An Introduction To A Pioneering Reformed Social Theorist

We seem to live in a Malthusian age, i.e., an age of increasing scarcity or perhaps fear of scarcity, where concern over how to divide an economic (and environmental) pie of limited size (called a “zero sum game”) has replaced the idea . . . Continue reading →

In Case You’re Still Debating Whether to Attend the Conference

San Diego County inland is a series of hills, ridges, and canyons. This view is about 15 minutes north of the seminary. People who haven’t visited North San Diego County may imagine it to be much more urban than it is. There are . . . Continue reading →

The Gift of Confessional Elders (2)

Part 1 Before we can see how and why our elders need to be confessional we needed to understand, in the first place, what an elder is. Next, we need to understand what it means to be “confessional” and then, in the . . . Continue reading →

2013 Faculty Conference-The Whole Armor of God: The Belgic Confession and Heidelberg Catechism for Today

2012 was the 450th anniversary of the Belgic Confession. The Belgic was written by Guy (or Guido) de Bres (1522–67), a French-speaking Reformed from the southern Netherlands who was martyred for the gospel. He modeled the Belgic after the French (Gallic) Confession . . . Continue reading →

The Gift of Confessional Elders

Usually in a conference there is a period of time set aside for questions and answers (Q&A). It’s a good practice because it gives an indication of what people heard and indicates where things might need to be clarified. It also gives . . . Continue reading →

Audio Available Now: Is the Reformation Over?

The audio from the Central Valley Conference on Reformed Theology at Zion Reformed Church in Ripon, California is online now (below). Thanks to Pastors Kevin Efflandt and Angelo Contreras and to everyone at Zion for their hard work in preparing for the . . . Continue reading →

America is Exceptional

In the previous post I tried to give some context to the claim that the USA is a “Christian” nation. There are ways in which that adjective is accurate and important ways in which it is not. Sometimes, however, when folk call . . . Continue reading →

Challies Gets Niceness

Humans seem to be naturally drawn to niceness. Niceness is comfortable. To be nice is to be pleasant in manner, to be agreeable, to adhere to social conventions. We like to be around people who are nice at least in large part . . . Continue reading →

The Myth of “Christian America”

Every four years (and in the interim) the question of whether we should regard the USA as a “Christian” nation re-emerges. There are three ways in which this question might be considered, sociologically, historically, and biblically-theologically. Under each rubric the case for . . . Continue reading →