We Reformed folk like to think that what we do now in public worship is what we have always done. This is especially easy to do when we are cut off from or unaware of the original sources and practices of our . . . Continue reading →
The Canadian Reformed Churches have just published the New Genevan Psalter. I purchased a copy. It seems to be well done. There is an interesting, brief introduction by George van Popta, General Editor as well as some brief notes on the Genevan . . . Continue reading →
Calvin is not mute and his tremulous voice rises with the rest and “on his dying countenance,” says Beza, whose eyes are fixed upon his master, “was not obscurely indicated a holy joy.” They sang, as usual, the Song of Simeon, with . . . Continue reading →
One of the questions I’ve been researching intermittently since before the publication of Recovering the Reformed Confession is why confessional Reformed and Presbyterian congregations sing non-canonical songs in public worship. For the most part the Reformed and Presbyterian Churches sang only inspired songs in . . . Continue reading →
In the well-researched and written volume, Calvin Meets Voltaire: The Clergy of Geneva during the Age of Enlightenment, 1685-1798, Eighteenth-Century Studies Series (Ashgate: 2014), Jennifer Powell McNutt argued that there was more continuity, than has sometimes been thought, between 18th-century Genevan theology, piety, . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed in many places closed organs, and introduced the singing of the psalms into the churches. Many of the old hymn books contained nothing but psalms, although others added hymns to the psalms. But the psalms constituted the basis and centre . . . Continue reading →
The king’s arbitrary actions roused very little public dissent. Most clergy were happy to get paid regularly again and their parishioners welcomed the restoration of the national church, even if it was subject to closer government control. Opposition against the new regime . . . Continue reading →
Below are gathered the quotations, posts, and essays from the Heidelblog on the history, theology, and practice of instruments in public worship. Continue reading →
The scope of this article is focused on an investigation of song in worship in the period leading up to and including the 150-year history of the RCSA. It focuses on the period from the dissenting ‘Doppers’ to the adoption of the . . . Continue reading →