R. Scott Clark
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
"The Church's Book of Comfort" edited by Willem Van't Spijker, translated by Gerrit Bilkes
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 […]
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 […]
"Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation: Volume 1, 1523-1552" edited by James T. Dennison
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 […]
"Reformed and Always Reforming: The Postconservative Approach to Evangelical Theory" by Roger E. Olson
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 […]
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 […]
"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 […]
"The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform" by Roger E. Olson
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 […]
Good reference books are like any other good tool, they are as useful as they are well designed and executed. One occasionally sees an advertisement for a new tool which either did not previously exist or is an improvement on an existing one. Some new tools, however, cause the consumer to ask, Why this product? […]
Because of their use in baptism, our Lord’s words at the very end of Matthew’s Gospel are among the most familiar in the New Testament. Meeting with his remaining eleven disciples, the resurrected Jesus told them: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all […]
I am frequently amazed when I walk into unattended, understaffed, and poorly run businesses. In such cases I wonder how they stay in business. Often they do not. In today's global capitalism, other things being equal, there is a correlation between performance and prosperity. Employers demand performance from their employees and clients demand performance from […]
