More on Scot McKnight's Critique of the Neo-Reformed

The i-Monk has weighed in. He writes: No, Scot is right, and it didn’t take a seminary professor to see it. Dress codes. Young earth creationism. Gothardite approaches to rules. Authoritarianism. Movies are evil and away we go. Find me a Rook . . . Continue reading →

A Review, Response, and Rejoinder (and Surrejoinder)

In the June/July 2009 issue of Ordained Servant Alan Strange published a surprisingly negative review of Recovering the Reformed Confession. The editor kindly invited me to reply and that reply appears today in the August/September issue. According to editorial policy, Alan gets . . . Continue reading →

Second and Third Thoughts on Edwards

Few figures are as electrifying and divisive in the study of American religious history as Jonathan Edwards. To many he is and can be only St Jonathan, the paradigm of theology, piety, and practice. To others the story is more complicated. It . . . Continue reading →

Who Gets to Say What Counts as Religious Affections and On What Basis?

Darryl Hart writes: “The proponents of Edwards and the First Pretty Good Awakening (hereafter FPGA) are worried about nominal Christianity – that is, people who go through the motions of worship or Christian practice. Although this is an understandable concern – who . . . Continue reading →

Less A Problem of What the Spirit is Doing and More a Problem of What We Say

Part 2

In part 1, I began to sketch a case that for a way between neo-Pentecostalism/Charismatic piety and a sterile piety. Genuine, confessional Reformed piety is warm, Spiritual, and vital but we understand that the Spirit works through means (Word and sacraments). This . . . Continue reading →

Let The Cool Kids Be Cool

…Since the Great Awakening, many American Protestants have allowed market forces to dictate how Christianity is presented to the watching world. That faith once delivered to the saints was repackaged for the Second Great Awakening, kicked up a notch for the great . . . Continue reading →

The Difference Between Reformed And Revived

So the “reformed” and the “revived” make two different kinds of determination when they look for Reformation and revival. Proponents of revival make claims that should be reserved for God, that is, whether a soul has truly come to new life in . . . Continue reading →

“Divine Winds” And Gay Elders: Where The QIRE Leads

The church has long been tempted to use a canon opener since the late 2nd century. As it became clear that the great acts of redemption were complete, that God’s special revelation had ended, the Montanist movement reacted by claiming to receive . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 87: The Impenitent Cannot Be Saved

Since the advent of the so-called Second Great Awakening, which shaped American evangelical theology, piety, and practice so profoundly in the 19th century, many American Christians have simply assumed that revivalist paradigm as correct. Many evangelicals have never seen any other approach . . . Continue reading →

The Fluid Line Between Revivalism And The Cults In Nineteenth-Century American Religion

To most Millerites, Ellen’s visions were simply another manifestation of the unfortunate religious drift of the times toward “fanaticism.” Early 19th-century America abounded with”prophets” of every description, from little-known frontier seers in Ellen Harmon’s own Methodist Church to prominent sectarian leaders. Mother . . . Continue reading →

The Evangelical Fall From The Means Of Grace

The prayers had been offered, the promises read, and the psalm sung. Two princes stepped forward to receive Communion, but the deacon refused to give them the cup. The superintendent of the city’s pastors ordered a second minister present to take the . . . Continue reading →

Resources On A Covenantal Approach To The Christian Life

Chris writes to the HB to ask about moving from the conversionist paradigm for the Christian life to the covenantal vision for the Christian life, how does a “covenantal” approach to the Christian life appear? This is an important question. Since the . . . Continue reading →

Anti-Scholasticism, Revival(ism), Pietism, Or The Reformed Theology, Piety, And Practice?

Or Why I Wrote Recovering The Reformed Confession

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 →

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 →