On Buckley’s Passing

William F. Buckley was indeed, a “great man” in the best and 
broadest sense of the phrase. If not for him, I am not sure the 
Soviets would not still be with us and against us. 
I have long thought so much of his public effectiveness was that his 
entire being was a caricature of pompous liberalism. It is hard [...]

Read Full Post »

On Renewing Theology

I spent the last few days at A Conversation on Denominational Renewal, which thankfully met in St. Louis. The conference was well attended, about 300 or more people. The audience was mostly PCA ministers and elders, but because it was held in St. Louis there were a good many Covenant Seminary Students and [...]

Read Full Post »

Puritans v. Reformed Worship: Part Two of a book chapter review

Part One
Continuing through The Worship of the English Puritans by Horton Davies:
The author gives some of his own appraisals rather than immediately quoting Durel, even though that is how he began his chapter. In Davies’ opinion, while the Puritans would invoke their own interpretation of Scripture in order to condemn, say, Calvin’s Church in [...]

Read Full Post »

Arising Early (Mark 1:35-39)

Mark likes to play with the words for resurrection. Again and again in his Gospel, Mark tells us how Jesus raised up the people He healed or how they arose. He does not need to mention their posture, but he chooses to do so, emphasizing their rising. And the terms he uses are the terms [...]

Read Full Post »

Why Sacraments?

In my blog entry yesterday, I raised a couple questions for Calvin about his theology of the sacraments.  It seemed to me, at least from Sinclair Ferguson’s summary, that Calvin talks as if we shouldn’t need sacraments.  The Word ought to be sufficient for us; the sacraments were added because of our weakness.  I wanted to follow up [...]

Read Full Post »

Problems with Church History Studies

One striking aspect of the recent “Federal Vision” conflict in the various conservative micro-Reformed groups is a debate over what older theologians really meant and said. Examining the credentials of various people who speak with great assurance on these matters one sees repeatedly degrees in church/theology history studies. In fact, in Reformed circles, it seems [...]

Read Full Post »

Questions for Calvin on the Sacraments

In a book entitled Serving the Word of God, Sinclair Ferguson has an essay entitled “Calvin on the Lord’s Supper and Communion with Christ.”  The essay’s okay, though I don’t know if it breaks any new ground.  But it raises two questions I wish I could pose to Calvin:
1.  Ferguson points out that Calvin, together [...]

Read Full Post »

Puritans v. Reformed Worship: Part One of a book chapter review

The Worship of the English Puritans by Horton Davies really valuable book for gaining historical perspective on the American Presbyterian scene. (I will note for the record that I don’t believe there is an objective definition for “puritan” and I wish historians would stop using it and instead speak of “English Calvinists” or “dissenters” [...]

Read Full Post »

Ten Words & Ten Toledoth

In Trees and Thorns, James Jordan suggests that Genesis has an introduction (Genesis 1:1-2:3), which presents the seven days of creation, followed by seven sections which parallel those seven days.  For the most part, I find that to be a helpful way of looking at the book of Genesis and I commend what he says to [...]

Read Full Post »

John Frame on Historical Election

This is the conclusion to Frame’s discussion about historical/covenantal election in his The Doctrine of God (pp. 329-30):
Historical election and eternal election are distinct, but they cannot be entirely separated. Note the following:
1. Both historical and eternal election are aspects of God’s saving purpose. The election of Israel and the temporary election of individuals in [...]

Read Full Post »