It is now clear that orthodox Protestants, specifically evangelicals, do not own the country. Whether they ever did is a matter for debate; that they thought they did is indisputable. It serves to explain, for example, the rather odd (from an English . . . Continue reading →
Twofold Kingdom
Christian Nationalism Might Be Cosplay: The Babylon Bee Interview
R. Scott Clark interviewed on the Babylon Bee Podcast about Christian Nationalism, Christ and Culture, Baptism, Calvinism and More Continue reading →
What Can We Do With Natural Law?
The two principal reasons the Heidelblog exists (and its parent organization, the Heidelberg Reformation Association) are, first, to encourage Reformed confessing Christians to recover their confession, i.e., both the confessional documents but also the broader and classic Reformed theology, piety, and practice, . . . Continue reading →
Oklahoma Governor Claims State For Christ. Controversy Ensues
After his re-election as governor of the State of Oklahoma, the hon. Kevin Stitt appeared at a prayer rally. He said the following: STITT: “Father, we just claim Oklahoma for you. Every square inch, we claim it for you in the name . . . Continue reading →
So You Say You Want A Revolution?
Addressing The Impatience Of Our Age
In the wake of the disaster that was World War I, in which about 8.5 million military personnel died and an even greater number of civilians died, there developed in this country and in Europe a desire not only for a future . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Ad Diognetum (AD 150) On Our Twofold Citizenship
These are some of our favorite Heidelquotes. Something to think about from the Heidelcast. If you are subscribed to the Heidelcast or the Heidelblog (see below) you will receive these episodes automatically. All the Episodes of the Heidelcast How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia . . . Continue reading →
Letter To The Editor Regarding “A Radical Narrowing Of The Gospel”
Editor’s Note: The following is a letter to the editor in response to an article by the Rev. Mr. Doug Barnes, “A Radical Narrowing of the Gospel,” in The Outlook vol. 72, issue 5 (Sept/Oct, 2022). § Dear Sir, I just read . . . Continue reading →
Lamenting Christendom
What difference should the visible church make in the broader culture? How significant should it be? How one answers this question tells us something about how one views the relations between Christ and culture and the evident death of Christendom. Defining Christendom . . . Continue reading →
Trueman On Transgender-America And The Christian Mission
After persuasively making a fatalistic case that trans ideology will triumph, in the final chapter, Trueman counsels his reader. The solutions he offers are mainly geared toward Christians and may be frustrating to some, as they are not centered on policy changes . . . Continue reading →
The Crisis Of The Hour: Christ And Culture
There may be no more pressing issue before Christians (as individuals) and the visible church (as a corporate body) than the question of Christ and culture. Much of what concerns us all just now goes back, in one way or another, to . . . Continue reading →
A Word About “R2K” (4): The Church
There have been rumblings and indications for several months (or more) online, on social media and in the email list for URCNA pastors that something was forthcoming and now it is before us. The Synod of the URCNA convenes in 12 days in Buffalo, NY. There the churches will consider an overture from Classis Michigan that seeks to address the controversy via “pastoral advice.” Continue reading →
A Word About “R2K” (3): Rhetoric
What I have not done yet, however, is to define “R2K.” This is, in part, because many of the critics (especially on social media) do not seem to know what they mean by it other than to say that it is something that someone told them leads to bad social outcomes. Continue reading →
A Word About “R2K” (2): History
So far I have been explaining, in part, why the early Reformation (e.g., Luther) distinction between “two kingdoms” and Calvin’s (beginning in 1536) distinction between two spheres in one kingdom has met with such resistance in our time: (1) The Reformed have . . . Continue reading →
A Word About R2K
Since David VanDrunen published, in 2010, the first volume in what has become a series of important volumes, Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought, Emory University Studies in Law and Religion (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), there has been a certain degree of controversy in some quarters of the confessional Reformed world over the recovery of the “two kingdoms” as a way of thinking about Christ and culture and ethics. Continue reading →
What’s Going on Right Now? Sex, Race, Politics, & Power w/ Dr. W. Robert Godfrey (16)
Dr. Godfrey reviews and unpacks Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper’s practical approach to Christ and culture. Continue reading →
Replacing Pseudo-Neutrality With Divinely Ordained Natural Law
Abraham Kuyper offers one non-liberal route for the state to organize itself in a way that is supportive of the basic truths of the divinely ordained natural law within a system that is more tolerant of diversity than the Constantinian settlement. Kuyper . . . Continue reading →
Pseudo-Masculinity And The Qualities Of The Kingdom
Rather than being formed by the King of heaven, it can be tempting to soak up hours of the Joe Rogan podcast or to become imitators of Jordan Peterson. Rather than living out the ethical qualities of the kingdom (Matt. 5-7), some . . . Continue reading →
Millennials And The Fallout Of Post-Political Evangelicalism
Young Evangelicals, we are told, leave the faith because Evangelicals have changed political and social behaviors. There is little evidence for that. What evidence that is offered—Trump’s supposed popularity—is more evidence of Evangelicals not changing their political habits than of them changing. . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast For July 3, 2022: A Mailbag Episode
During Dr Clark’s summer trip to Nebraska the mailbag (and Heideltext inbox) filled up so what was supposed to be an episode on the Canons of Dort became a Q&A episode. Never fear. The episode for next week returns to the Canons. . . . Continue reading →
Christian, Get Involved
One of the more pernicious misrepresentations of the distinction between the eternal and temporal spheres of Christ’s kingdom, which Calvin called the “twofold kingdom” (Institutes, 3.19.15), is that it counsels or leads Christians to withdraw from society (e.g., politics). Nothing could be . . . Continue reading →