21 Jun 2016
Posted by Ruben Alvarado 
A. A. van Ruler Address delivered in Hilversum, the Netherlands, on June 3rd, 1941, to the convention of emeritus and officiating clergymen. Translated by Ruben Alvarado The question of the relationship of the kingdom of God to the church is of major significance for the ecumenical question in the broad...
Read more → 09 Jun 2016
Posted by Ruben Alvarado
A. A. van Ruler Address delivered in Hilversum, the Netherlands, on April 23, 1942, to the local chapter of the Confessional Union. Translated by Ruben Alvarado In the church, there are people and there are things. It is beyond all doubt true when one says, the church – that is all believers taken...
Read more → 12 May 2016
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
The Protestant argument for church polity has consistently argued that rule by presbyters was the earlier form of church government and that mono-episcopacy was a later practical development in the early church. This may have been legitimate and beneficial but was by no means universally binding on all future...
Read more → 22 Feb 2016
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In order to flesh out the effects of the Lord's Passion in the Enchiridion theologicum, Niels Hemmingsen quotes an excerpt he attributes to Augustine. Et Augustinus: Per Redemptoris, nostri mortem de tenebris ad lucem, de morte ad vitam, de corruptione ad incorruptionem, de exilio ad patriam, de luctu...
Read more → 31 Dec 2015
Posted by Eric Parker 
Paul's call to self-examination in 1 Corinthians 11 has shaped the Reformed way of celebrating the Lord's table for better or for ill. In those churches that emphasize self-examination in their fencing of the table, Paul's requirement can sometimes appear to overshadow the ultimate purpose of the ritual...
Read more → 22 Dec 2015
Posted by Eric Parker 
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself...
Read more → 02 Dec 2015
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
This is the second part of Hemmingsen's discussion of the church from his Enchiridion Theologicum. In this installment, he gives two definitions of the word "church," one longer and one shorter. Text and Translation Hinc iam plenam definitionem elicere, non erit difficile, qualis haec esse poteris:...
Read more → 16 Sep 2015
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
A few months ago David Bentley Hart kicked up quite the online controversy over in the comments of this blog. The original topic was universalism, but then it turned into a discussion of the status of Origen of Alexandria within Eastern Orthodoxy, and that in turn became a discussion about the authority...
Read more → 03 Aug 2015
Posted by Steven Wedgeworth 
Dominic Foo has a very good essay on the way "high church" ecclesiologies always fall back into a sort of "invisible church" theology when forced to reckon with the actual historical record. Here's a sample: The point is that in the end nobody, at least nobody with a proper command of church history,...
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Ursinus’ Theses Concerning Baptism
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In his Heidelberg Catechism lectures, Zacharias Ursinus lists 17 "theses" on baptism. These form a section of their own, and they appear after his commentary and exposition of Heidelberg Lord's Day 27. For those who have the hard-cover version of the P&R reprint titled Commentary on the Heidelberg...
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