Resources on the QIRE
The QIRE Distilled To Its Essence
QIRE
With The Regular Reformed Guys On QIRC And QIRE
Long ago, in a galaxy far away, Recovering the Reformed Confession was published and there I argued that confessional Reformed theology, piety, and practice has two competitors, unwelcome guests, if you will: the Quest for Illegitimate Religious Certainty (QIRC) and the Quest . . . Continue reading →
Audio: With Mike Abendroth And No Compromise Radio On Confessions
It is always a joy to talk to Mike Abendroth (No Compromise Radio). He loves the gospel and appreciates the Reformed faith. He and his brother Pat (Omaha Bible Church) are part of a broader movement toward recovering Reformed theology, piety, and . . . Continue reading →
The Resurrection, Piety, And Pietism
And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all (Acts 4:31). Perhaps since the rise of the late-medieval mystics, who desired nothing so much as to be absorbed . . . Continue reading →
Anti-Scholasticism, Revival(ism), Pietism, Or The Reformed Theology, Piety, And Practice?
Or Why I Wrote Recovering The Reformed Confession
In recent weeks there has been a remarkable confluence of articles that, in their own way, are right on time. Let us start chronologically. In November John Frame reviewed James Dolezal’s excellent book, All That Is In God. In the course of . . . Continue reading →
Another Downside Of Pietism: Christ’s Bodily Resurrection Is Marginalized
If it does not care much about the Lord’s Supper (either to observe it or as to who communes) neither does it necessarily have a vital interest in the facts of the history of salvation. This tendency is plainly evident in two great figures in the history of Pietism, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) and Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918). Both were raised in the Pietist tradition and both abandoned historic Christianity. Continue reading →
Charles Finney Does Not Live Here
Did you stop and get to know those people in the churches? Did you ask them about their burdens? Is it possible there were things much bigger that you were overlooking because of a superficial need for an emotional buzz during worship? . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck’s Critique Of Pietism
Like so many other efforts at reforming life in Protestant churches, Pietism and Methodism were right in their opposition to dead orthodoxy. Originally their intention was only to arouse a sleeping Christianity; they wished not to bring about a change in the . . . Continue reading →
What’s Wrong With A Theology Of Glory?
At the 1518 Heidelberg Disputation (academic presentation), Martin Luther (1483–1546), the father of the Protestant Reformation, as he was coming to his Protestant convictions, argued: “One is not worthy to be called a theologian who looks upon the ‘invisible things of God’ . . . Continue reading →
With No Compromise Radio On The Lordship Controversy, QIRE, And The Reformation
In anticipation of the upcoming conference, So You Say You Want A Reformation? Mike Abendroth and I discuss some of the topics we will be considering this Friday and Saturday: law, gospel, and the confusion of the two, the Lordship Salvation controversy, . . . Continue reading →
More Conference Audio: The Quest For Illegitimate Religious Experience
Here is the fourth installment of the audio from the conference, So You You Say You Want A Reformation? hosted by Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, MA. This is one of the Saturday morning talks, on the QIRE (quest for illegitimate . . . Continue reading →
With The Laymen’s Lounge Podcast: What Are Proper Expectations For the Christian Life?
Jason Estopinal is the host of the podcast and he writes: “It’s been said that for fish that living under water, with all they’ve ever known is underwater living, and all the other fish around them also only know underwater living—that these . . . Continue reading →
Why Caution About Jonathan Edwards Is In Order
Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) is America’s most famous theologian and perhaps its most famous philosopher too. He is an important and influential figure and worth seeking to understand for those reasons alone. We should think about Edwards for other reasons, however, He is . . . Continue reading →
Some Reasons Why Visitors Do Not Stay And What To Do About It
Presbyterian and Reformed congregations occupy an odd space in American Christianity. We do not really belong to American Christianity in significant ways. Our roots are not in the nineteenth-century revivals nor even in the eighteenth-century revivals. We are no part of the . . . Continue reading →
The First Great Awakening: “A Confus’d But Very Affecting Noise”
It is difficult to imagine. Jonathan Edwards countenancing the “Confus’d, but very Affecting Noise” that erupted in Suffield, Massachusetts, on July 6, 1741. Yet there he stood, his loud voice rising in prayer above the din that emanated from an assembly of . . . Continue reading →
The Myth Of The Bell Rope
Events described by the author of the Savage manuscript, in other words, provide an opportunity to reimagine Edwards as an active promoter of the most radical dimensions of the evangelical new birth experience—a figure who, during the early months of the Awakening, . . . Continue reading →
Sarah Edwards’ Encounters With The Divine (Or Neglected Aspects Of The First Great Awakening)
The “extraordinary affairs” at at home referred to the beginnings of what was among the most revealing episodes in the whole Edwards saga. On Wednesday morning, January 20, 1742, Sarah Edwards was enraptured by a spiritual ecstasy that continued for more than . . . Continue reading →
Another Way The Reformed Confessions Can Help Us If We Let Them
I am in the studio today to work on an Office Hours podcast for May so there is just time for a quick thought about another way the Reformed confessions can help the churches be more faithful. Continue reading
Not To Worry. Christ Is Still Lord. Nothing Has Changed
Another Christian musician has announced that he has “deconstructed” his faith. Continue reading
What If The Lord Does Not Accept Our Praise Music?
…We have been trained by the broader culture that how we feel when we come to worship is determined by the success of the instrumentation to create a good feeling. The assumption is that praise is created by the success of the . . . Continue reading →