All this is true. But it really does not apply to the situation in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The point is that Church is very largely dominated by unbelief. It does not merely harbor unbelief here and there. No, it . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: The Lordship Controversy Is Back
This is season 5 of Office Hours and we’re talking about sanctification: New Life In The Shadow Of Death. In this episode, Mike Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, and I time travel to the “Lordship Controversy” that raged . . . Continue reading →
Standard Reformed Polemics Against The Use Of Musical Instruments In Worship
But all light into, all perceptions of, this glory, all experience of its power, were, amongst the most, lost in the world. I intend, in all these instances, the time of the Papal apostasy. Those who had the conduct of religion could . . . Continue reading →
Rural North County: Palms and Plows
This gallery contains 7 photos.
Heidelcast 45: What’s New About The New Covenant? (Pt 2)
In this episode, part 2 of 2, we look specifically at what is new in the new covenant. Here’s part 1. Jeremiah 31:31–34 looks forward to four future blessings in the new covenant. The New Testament takes up those categories and elaborates . . . Continue reading →
The Psalms Are Transcultural
(HT: Leon Brown)
The Church’s Closed Canon By The Latter Half Of The Second Century
This is enough to show that it is quite wrong to contend that there was no concern for marking out or keeping inviolate the contents of the new covenant Scriptures in the second century, or to claim that there was no generally . . . Continue reading →
A Bibliography of Historical Theology and Historiography
Note: This bibliography is intended to alert HT students to the existence of some important and/or useful works for students of historical theology. I have omitted standard and older works in church history (e.g., Schaff) and reference works, since they are available . . . Continue reading →
Chronology Of The Medieval And Reformation Church
Drafted c. 1995. Last revision, 2024. § 1100 c. b. Peter Lombard (1160). Magister Sententiae). 1155–58 Lombard publishes Sententiarum libri quatuor (Sentences in Four Books), which will be mandated in at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) as the standard textbook for theology . . . Continue reading →
The Avignon Papacy
Avignon Rome Pisa 1305 Clement V 1316 John XXII 1328 Nicholas V* [1328–30] 1334 Benedict XII 1342 Clement VI 1352 Innocent VI 1362 Urban V 1370 Gregory . . . Continue reading →
Cromwell: Simul Iustus Et Peccator
Judging by his serene expression, he certainly doesn’t look like a man who should have changed England’s politics, culture and history forever. I refer to Oliver Cromwell and his expression preserved for the ages in his death mask on display at Warwick . . . Continue reading →
Has The Church Replaced Israel?
It is a common canard among Dispensationalists that Reformed theology must teach that the church “replaces” Israel. They call this “Replacement Theology.” That must is what is known as an a priori, something that someone “knows” before they’ve actually looked at the . . . Continue reading →
Laura Smit On The Foolishness Of Romantic Dreams About The Mainline
Some of my friends in the CRC seem to think that this would be a good thing. They speak to me with wistful longing about the “freedom” of the PCUSA. This is a romantic vision that is unrelated to the truth. The . . . Continue reading →
The Irony Of The Coming Dark Age (Updated Again)
The old schoolbook story of the middle ages describes the entire period as the “dark ages.” Of course that’s rubbish. There was a period of chaos in the early medieval period but there were also periods of remarkable learning and the renewal . . . Continue reading →
Kevin DeYoung Isn’t “Nice” (Because He Laughs At Vanity)
Satire, sarcasm, irony, hyperbole–these are dangerous weapons, only to be wielded in spiritual warfare with caution and with great aplomb. But they are to be wielded at times. To poke fun at the oh-so-important, the perpetually offended, and the self-righteously sentimental can . . . Continue reading →
Renewed And Improved: Gillespie Against The Normative Principle Of Worship
When I first came into contact with the Reformed faith about 33 years ago, there were two things that Reformed folk had to believe: divine sovereignty and the inerrancy of Scripture. It’s not that we actively disbelieved the other elements of the . . . Continue reading →
John Rainolds On The Jewishness Of Roman Masses And Instruments
I have showed, how. And if you see it not: the veil may be the cause, which is very likely to be laid on your heart in reading of the new testament, as it was on the heart of others, in reading . . . Continue reading →
New Article: Law And Gospel In Early Reformed Orthodoxy
Richard Muller recently celebrated his 65th birthday to mark that occasion and as part the 20th anniversary of the PhD program at Calvin Seminary, he was presented with a Festschrift (celebration book) in his honor. Jordan Ballor has the details on Opuscula . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: The Law And The Bible
There’s no question whether Christ is Lord over every square inch. There are, however, many important and difficult questions to be discussed over how Christ exercises his Lordship over all things. Office Hours talks with David VanDrunen about his new book, The Law and the Bible, which . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Proper Practice Of The Lord’s Supper
43. But as for the outward ceremony of the action — whether or not the believers take it in their hands, or divide it among themselves, or severally eat what has been given to each; whether they hand the cup back to . . . Continue reading →