Here is the Q & A session of this year’s faculty conference. We had some fun while answering questions and clarifying some of the points made in the various talks.
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 →
The folks at Logos asked me to let you know about these resources. Its the Baker Academic Heidelberg Catechism Collection (2 vols.) It includes the introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism edited by Lyle Bierma, Charles D. Gunnoe Jr., Karin Y. Maag, and . . . Continue reading →
Go the reference room (virtual or real), find a encyclopedia entry on “Biblical Theology” and one will likely find an entry that begins in the 19th century liberalism. Depending upon which entries one reads, one might find reference to the Dutch Reformed . . . Continue reading →
Last time we saw that there’s nothing new in “biblical theology.” The Christian church has been doing a form of what we “biblical theology” for a very long time. This is because the gospel may be considered as a topic or as . . . Continue reading →
This is the 450th Anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563). The HB, of course, is devoted to explaining and applying the catechism and to pointing you to worthy resources to that end. This is one of them. Here’s my jacket blurb: As a . . . Continue reading →
A correspondent to the HB writes: About 7 years ago during a study of Romans in BSF, God rocked my theological world! My thinking was turned upside down as I embraced the doctrines of grace and began to see God and myself . . . Continue reading →
V. This Doctrine Of Predestination Is Not In Harmony With The Confessions Of The Reformed Churches With a minimum of contention or even trivial objection, it may be appropriately doubted whether this doctrine agrees with either the Belgic confession or the Heidelberg . . . Continue reading →
In March I promised to post this and then promptly forgot. I was asked to write a brief introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism for a Danish translation of the catechism. Here it is. § Introduction Considering its principals, the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) . . . Continue reading →
“17. Why must he also be true God? That by the power of His Godhead He might bear in His manhood the burden of God’s wrath, and so obtain for and restore to us righteousness and life.” Almost from the beginning of . . . Continue reading →
Throughout its history the church considered as organism, i.e., its people, has often been tempted to go back to Egypt, as it were. We have often been tempted to look back to where we were in redemptive history rather than appreciating where . . . Continue reading →
The good folk at Escondido URC invited me to speak for their Reformation Day celebration. Since it’s the 450th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism (this is the Heidelblog, after all) I spoke on the some of the personalities behind the catechism and . . . Continue reading →
In part 2 we considered the nature of assent. There is a third aspect to the Reformed definition of faith: trust. This is the crux of the disagreement between Rome and the Reformation over nature of faith in the act of justification. . . . Continue reading →
In part 3, we compared the Romanist (Tridentine) definitions of faith and justification to the Reformed definitions of faith and justification. According to Rome, in the Council of Trent, anyone who teaches that sinners are declared righteous before God only (sola) on . . . Continue reading →
In part 8 we saw that the source of true faith is the sovereign, powerful, re-creating work of the Holy Spirit. Ordinarily, however, he works through what the classic Reformed writers, including Calvin, and the Reformed churches call “the means of grace” . . . Continue reading →
Most Lord’s Days, in the evening (second) service, the congregation recites the Apostles’ Creed. This is an ancient, biblical practice. The church has been reciting creedal formulae since the Israelites first said the Shema (Deut 6:4): “Hear O Israel, Yahweh Our God, . . . Continue reading →
When most people think of the Reformed confession of the Christian faith they probably think about predestination. This is the minimalist definition that is often used. When evangelicals say, “I’m Reformed” what they often mean is, “I’ve adopted the doctrine of election” . . . Continue reading →
Renewed interest in the Reformed confession is not a uniquely American phenomenon. There are, of course, large confessional Reformed/Presbyterian bodies in South Korea, Nigeria, The (Democratic Republic of the) Congo, and elsewhere. We where we might not expect to find a Reformed . . . Continue reading →
In the first part we looked at the doctrine of God embedded in Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 26. The catholic (universal) Christian doctrine of God summarized in the catechism is in antithesis to modernist doctrine(s) of God in process or contingent upon us creatures. . . . Continue reading →
From the moment Adam sought to grasp equality with God (Phil 2), from the moment he mysteriously rebelled against God’s sovereignty and hiddenness (“You shall be as God”), from the moment he ceased to love and adore the triune God, since that . . . Continue reading →