Garry Wills Talks Priesthood, Transubstantiation, and Hebrews

by R. Scott Clark on February 14, 2013

(HT: Jordan Huff). It’s not often that one sees discussion of transubstantiation on Comedy Central or anywhere else for that matter (except perhaps EWTN). It’s interesting that Wills, a Roman Catholic, seems to feel no reluctance to attack Romanist dogma. It reminds . . . Continue reading →

Dever on the Problem with Buildings, Bodies, and Budgets

by R. Scott Clark on February 13, 2013

(HT: Rich Barcellos)

The Problem Of Lent For Confessional Reformed Christians

by Heidelblog on February 13, 2013

After all, Protestants don’t have a history of self-inflicted pain to merit spiritual rewards. If as the gospel allies would have it that Lent is to remind us of Christ, then we should also be reminded that nothing we do to attack . . . Continue reading →

A Protestant Catechism On The Papacy

by Heidelblog on February 13, 2013

Have the Apostles any successors? To speak properly, they had none to succeed them in the degree and dignity of apostleship; and therefore when James was beheaded, none was chosen into his place. Otherwise all pastors and ministers of the gospel, who . . . Continue reading →

“At Least He Gets Jesus”

Questions About N T Wright

by R. Scott Clark on February 13, 2013

Or maybe not. For years people have said to me, “Well, Wright isn’t very good on justification but he’s solid on the resurrection and the deity of Christ.” The implication of this argument is that Wright is a well-placed, influential member of . . . Continue reading →

No Other Head Of The Church

by Heidelblog on February 12, 2013

There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the . . . Continue reading →

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

by R. Scott Clark on February 12, 2013

Benedict XVI, who turns 86 in April, will abdicate the papacy at the end of this month. The election of a new pope is a good opportunity for a brief tutorial on some of the aspects of the papacy that the mass . . . Continue reading →

A Simple Curriculum for Parrots, Perts, and Poets

by R. Scott Clark on February 11, 2013

I get occasional questions about a curriculum for Christian education programs. It’s probably more complicated than it seems—things usually are. Typically I agree to a project on the premise that, “Well, this seems straightforward” and then, of course, it isn’t. Nevertheless, I . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg Catechism Q. 18: One Mediator, Two Natures

The Reformation Debate

by R. Scott Clark on February 11, 2013

Part 1 Heidelberg Catechism Q. 18 asks: 18. But who now is that Mediator, who in one person is true God and also a true and righteous man? Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given unto us for complete redemption and . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 9: The Secret of Knowing God’s Will (Pt 2)

An HB Classic

by Heidelcast on February 10, 2013

According to Deuteronomy 29:29 believers are to trust in, rely upon, listen to, and obey that which God has revealed rather than seeking what God has not revealed. In the history of redemptive history the practice of seeking God’s will where he . . . Continue reading →

Ursinus On Catechesis

by Heidelblog on February 9, 2013

The Greek word κατηχησις (catechesis) is derived from κατηχεω (catecheo), as κατχισμος (catechismos) is from κατχιζω (catechizo). Both words, according to their common signification, mean to sound, to resound, to instruct by word of mouth, and to repeat the sayings of another. . . . Continue reading →

Dr Benjamin Carson’s Address to the Prayer Breakfast

by R. Scott Clark on February 9, 2013

Dr Benjamin Carson’s biography is the stuff of legend and films. Born into terrible poverty, Carson is now the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the founder of the Carson Scholars Fund. A Seventh-Day Adventist, his views on creation . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg Conference on Reformed Theology 2013: Our Only Comfort

18-21 July 2013

by R. Scott Clark on February 8, 2013

This is the 450th Anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism 1563). The SERK (Selbständige Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche Heidelberg) is hosting a conference, in Heidelberg, this summer. The featured speakers are Joel Beeke, Mike Horton, Lyle Bierma, Victor E. d’Assonville, Jon Payne, Jason Van Vliet, . . . Continue reading →

Cocceius On The Definition Of Covenant

by Heidelblog on February 8, 2013

§5. The covenant of God with man is different than those made by men among themselves. For men make covenants for mutual benefits; however, God makes covenant for His people. Indeed, the covenant of God is nothing other than the divine declaration . . . Continue reading →

Text Criticism and Good Hermeneutics is Practical

by R. Scott Clark on February 8, 2013

Walter Slonopas seems to read the Bible the way lots of American evangelicals and others do so. They read the most symbolic book in Scripture as if it belonged to some other genre, as if it may be read correctly, the first . . . Continue reading →

Reformation Is Breaking Out

In Glendale CA

by R. Scott Clark on February 7, 2013

A pastor never knows what a phone call will bring. The fear is that it brings bad news. It is delightful when it brings good news. I had one of the latter today. Alen Adamian, an pastor (with Vahik Haddadian) in the . . . Continue reading →

How Many Ex Cathedra Pronouncements Are There?

by R. Scott Clark on February 7, 2013

One of the principal reasons that some Protestants have given for converting to Rome is the desire for certainty, to escape the alleged uncertainty attached to the confessional Protestant doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture. The unstated implication is that, in Rome, . . . Continue reading →

Ames On Substantial Identity Of The Moral Law With The Decalogue

by Heidelblog on February 6, 2013

9. From this speciall and proper way of governing reasonable Creatures, there ariseth that covenant, which is between God and them. For this covenant is as it were a certaine transaction of God with the Creature, whereby God commandeth, promiseth, threatneth, fulfilleth, . . . Continue reading →

R. Scott Clark Opposes Homosexual Marriage

by R. Scott Clark on February 6, 2013

There was a time when I would not have posted this. There was a time when I would have assumed that people can easily search the Heidelblog to find out what I’ve actually written. Now, however, I have the impression that, for . . . Continue reading →

Facts Are Stubborn Things

You Might Not Know What You Think You Know

by R. Scott Clark on February 6, 2013

Historians are meant to deal in facts. Yes, facts are not brute and yes, they must be interpreted but that interpretation does not render them something other than facts. If there are no facts, there is no history but only politics and . . . Continue reading →