All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go

An HB Classic on Recovering the Reformed Confession

I regularly receive an email that says: We love what we hear on the White Horse Inn and what we get from WSC and the HB and the like and we’ve visited ostensibly Reformed congregations in our area and none of them . . . Continue reading →

French Bakery or Winchells?

An HB Classic

So there’s been a lot of discussion of John MacArthur’s recent comments at the Shepherd’s Conference. Kim Riddlebarger has replied and I’ve commented on the HB (see the resources below). I’ve promised to write something on Quistorp’s summary of Calvin’s eschatology. I’ve . . . Continue reading →

Pastor Willour is Reading RRC!

Pastor Geoff Willour is pastor of Lake OPC in Cleveland. He writes: “One of the things that I have noticed in recent years has been lots of discussion (both on the internet, and through numerous books and articles) on two trends in . . . Continue reading →

RRC Now Available on Kindle and iTunes!

Due to popular demand or just the ordinary movement of technology Recovering the Reformed Confession is now available via Kindle and iTunes for $9.99. As always, the hardcopy is available through the Bookstore (ding, ding!) at Westminster Seminary California. If the sound effects make . . . Continue reading →

All Heretics Quote Scripture

An HB Classic

One of the Ecks (there were two) is (or was it Bob Godfrey?) reputed to have said (I can’t find the reference), “All heretics quote Scripture.” If he said it, he meant it as rebuke to Luther’s appeal to Scripture. Of course, . . . Continue reading →

All We Want

“Our problem is that most of us would like to remain in the PCA, all we really want is an orthodox, Bible-believing, law and gospel preaching, Presbyterian church that is solidly committed to the doctrines taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith.” . . . Continue reading →

The Heidelberg Catechism Rocks Her World

An HB Classic

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 →

Narcissus Lives!

Narcissus is a mythological story about a young man who became so fascinated with his own reflection it cost him his life. Narcissism is a psychological disorder that confuses subjective experience for objective reality. In Recovering the Reformed Confession I described the . . . Continue reading →

“Bound to the Past” and to a Living Confession

An HB Classic

In reaction to Rick Phillips’ critique of a response by a Federal Visionist to his (then) presbytery, one of the proponents of the Federal Vision made the following argument: … Surely, we all know there’s a difference between how we use terms . . . Continue reading →

New In Print: Companion to Reformed Orthodoxy

Willem van Asselt, Irena Backus, John Witte Jr, Carl Trueman and others (including John Fesko and myself) are among those contributing to A Companion to Reformed Orthodoxy by Brill. If you’re interested in the academic study of the history of Reformed theology . . . Continue reading →

Presbyterians and Quakers Together

I see that Tony Jones has posted something critical of small/cell groups (I don’t know where and I can’t find it now. You’re welcome to post a link in the comments). Perhaps now that a leader in the Emergent Village has suggested . . . Continue reading →

Is The Confession Of The Substance Of Our Faith?

David writes to ask about a brief essay I wrote several years back on the distinction between the substance and accidents of the faith and how I reconcile what I wrote there with what I’ve been arguing about the nature of confessional . . . Continue reading →

The QIRC-er Must Be Right

QIRC is an acronym: Quest for Illegitimate Religious Certainty. It has at least two aspects. The first is the ancient, sinful desire to know what God knows, the way he knows it. That is what the Evil One offered to us in . . . Continue reading →

Reformed Is Enough Or Why I Wrote RRC

David J. Miller published a lengthy account yesterday of his journey out of the OPC to Eastern Orthodoxy and to Anglicanism of different sorts and back to confessional Presbyterian and Reformed theology, piety, and practice. It’s a long-ish piece but it’s a . . . Continue reading →

Are There Two Distinct Reformed Views Of The Sabbath?

Does The Continental View Really Exist?

On Twitter Anthony Bradley pointed us to a webpage by Ra McLaughlin on the Sabbath. There is good material there but there are also a couple of items that warrant discussion. The one on which I want to focus in this post . . . Continue reading →

Reformed And Pentecostal?

In view of the controversy over the recent Strange Fire conference up the road, it seemed like a good time to re-post this HB classic from 2008. § James K. A. Smith has an interesting post at Christianity Today, Teaching a Calvinist to Dance. . . . Continue reading →

Happy Birthday To The Shorter Catechism!

Thanks to Wayne Sparkman for his consistently excellent daily posts. From his keyboard comes a reminder that today is an anniversary of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. On this day in 1647, the House of Commons ordered the printing of the Westminster Shorter . . . Continue reading →