The Calvinist International
One of the most important arguments that Richard Hooker makes in the preface to his Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, now available in a modernized version from the Davenant Institute, is that church order (or polity) and discipline are adiaphora: neither Episcopacy nor Presbyterianism (roughly, the Genevan model) are required de iure divino such that the true […]
Dr. Feser has written a reply to the first part of my rejoinder, and he says this will be his last. I think that the second part of my rejoinder addresses several of his concerns, but like him, I am happy to move on to other subjects. However, I want to make a few brief […]
I thought I would add a brief appendix to Andrew’s excellent rejoinder to Feyerabend and Feser on the principle of sola scriptura. Richard Hooker (since we’re being judicious) upheld three authorities for Christians: Scripture, reason, and church tradition. Andrew explains how the first two work together to uphold the principle of sola scriptura. The last one, church […]
A few times in the past at TCI writers have addressed the matter of punishment. Pr. Wedgeworth’s essay on C. S. Lewis’ doctrine of punishment is a noteworthy case, and I build on that argument in various ways in my series on pacifism. I would like to briefly address this matter again, by providing one brief […]
Having now given a rather critical picture of the modern liturgical movement and the state of our actual knowledge regarding the “catholic tradition” and the worship of the early church, the question could be asked about what rule we now have left. Are we supposed to simply go back to the, now itself old-fashioned, evangelical […]
Charles Mills Gayley’s book from almost a century ago, Shakespeare and the Founders of Liberty in America, may prove interesting to some readers of TCI. Two chapters in particular deserve consideration: “Shakespeare and Hooker”, which argues the great playwright was reading the great theologian, and “Richard Hooker and the Principles of American Liberty”, which argues […]
Here at The Calvinist International, we care deeply about history, and yet we frequently trample freely on the shibboleths of contemporary historiography. One of these is its commitment to truth-neutrality. In this it mimics, but goes even further than, the procedural liberalism that dominates the modern administration of justice, which abandons any concern for the […]
John Calvin’s position on the 4th Commandment has been perplexing to many for the last 300 years, at least. As Richard Gaffin explains, Calvin seems to be a non-Sabbatarian in conviction but a Sabbatarian in practice. Calvin states that the meaning of the Sabbath has been fulfilled in Christ, that we are now to “rest” […]
In the seventh chapter of A Companion to Richard Hooker, Ranall Ingalls defends Hooker’s “Protestant” and “Reformation” credentials by pointing to his adherence to justification by faith alone and the imputed external righteousness of Christ. He supplies this quote from Hooker’s Learned Discourse on Justification: There is a glorifyinge righteousnes of men in the Worlde to […]
The recent natural law confabulation has been a lot of fun and very refreshing. There’s so much to be gained from the recovery of natural law, but we need to point out one other very important concept: the jus gentium. This concept, perhaps better known as the “common law of nations,” was important to both […]