Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther By Roland H. Bainton Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950 Luther: Man between God and the Devil By Heiko Oberman Yale University Press, 1989 One of the first books I remember reading as a young Christian was Roland H. Bainton’s Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (1950). It […]
Friday, 01 September, 2017 by R. Scott Clark
Between 1559 and 1561, while hiding from Spanish troops who sought to arrest and make a martyr of him for the sake of the gospel, Guy de Bres (1522–67) wrote a confession of faith, which we know as the Belgic Confession (1561). Among the more remarkable aspects of the story is that the French Confession […]
Monday, 01 May, 2017 by R. Scott Clark
A significant figure in a variety of circles, J. I. Packer is one of the last voices representing the generation of British evangelicals with roots in the Reformation. Packer is articulate, warm, and evangelical in the best sense of the word. His latest invitation to the evangelical community to join him in appreciating and learning […]
Wednesday, 31 August, 2016 by R. Scott Clark
For a series of philosophical, theological, and practical reasons, the medieval church came gradually to think that our justification (that is, our acceptance by a righteous God) is progressive. What the confessional Reformed and Lutheran churches call sanctification (that is, our gradual conformity to Christ), the medieval church came to think of as justification. This […]
Tuesday, 05 July, 2016 by R. Scott Clark
As Luther climbed the Santa Scala in 1510 on his knees in Rome, the principal thing on his mind was the possibility of salvation. The farthest thing from his mind was the certainty of salvation, and this was because, to that point, the only theology of salvation Luther knew taught him to count on two […]
Tuesday, 03 January, 2012 by R. Scott Clark
Few documents are as important to the history, theology, piety, and practice of the Reformed churches across the globe as the Heidelberg Catechism (1563). Although there are many volumes offering an explanation of the catechism, most are pedestrian and obvious. Most fail to place the catechism in its historical context as they try to interpret […]
Friday, 01 January, 2010 by R. Scott Clark
In recognition of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, Modern Reformation editors have solicited essays from a number of authorities on Calvin's life and work. Not all of our writers are "Calvinists" (that is, they would not all necessarily agree with him or follow in his theological footsteps), but each has identified a particular […]
Thursday, 11 June, 2009 by R. Scott Clark
Is there an objective definition of the adjective "Reformed"? Judging by current popular usage, there appear to be as many definitions as definers. What must one believe to be "Reformed"? Is the doctrine of predestination all there is? Arguably, the answer to these questions should be sought in some objective, ecclesiastical, public, authoritative summary of […]
Friday, 27 February, 2009 by R. Scott Clark
Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875)-the godfather of much of modern evangelical theology, piety, and practice-attacked the establishment by ecclesiastical authority of a confessional standard as no better than the papacy (see Charles Finney's Systematic Theology, new expanded edition, edited by Dennis Carroll [Bethany House, 1994], p. 3). In the tradition of Finney's jeremiad against ecclesiastical or […]
Thursday, 01 May, 2008 by R. Scott Clark
Doctrine. Theology. For many evangelicals these words are as pleasant as the phrase, "impacted tooth!" That theology is irrelevant to Christian life has essentially become a received dogma. Nevertheless, as much as indifference about Christian truth reigns among evangelicals, to the same degree we have actually adopted a competing religion, and therefore the Christian explanation […]
Thursday, 09 August, 2007 by R. Scott Clark
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one!" In contrast to the polytheistic religions of her neighbors, Israel was made deeply conscious of the fact that there is only one God (hence, the term, "monotheism"). The monothe-istic doctrine of God is at the headwaters of the Christian faith, but it is the […]
Monday, 16 July, 2007 by R. Scott Clark
Historical theology is an important part of the process of deciding who we are, what we believe, and consequently how we will behave. For confessional Protestants, the past is not absolutely definitive, since all theologies besides God's revealed Word err, but its influence on our lives is inescapable. Much of what we teach and do […]
Tuesday, 12 June, 2007 by R. Scott Clark