The English Reformer, Hugh Latimer (c.1485-1555) is probably best remembered today for his stirring statement at the time of his Oxford martyrdom in the autumn of 1555 when he urged his co-martyr Nicholas Ridley, “Be of good comfort Master Ridley,…
Biblical studies have undergone something of a seismic shift over the past three decades. Noted scholars such as James D.G. Dunn, E.P. Sander and N.T. Wright have questioned whether the theologians of the Reformation have properly understood the theological arguments of…
This year we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation when the German Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed a long series of academic debating points about the medieval Roman Catholic penitential system (the 95 theses) to…
This is a personal invitation to come to beautiful Greenville, SC in order to enjoy a new conference joyfully set in the Reformed tradition October 13-15, 2017. Joining me will be Rev. Dr. Harry L. Reeder III of Briarwood Presbyterian Church…
Many of us have probably been led to think of the Reformed (and Presbyterian) tradition as being separate and parallel tradition to the Lutheran tradition. There have been those within the modern Reformed tradition and within the Lutheran tradition since…
In its theological response to the teachings of the Reformation, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) maintained that a “believer’s assurance of the pardon of his sins is a vain and ungodly confidence”. More pointedly the Council declared in Canon 16…
When Calvin speaks of sharing the Lord’s Supper with Christ, covenantal concepts naturally arise, most notable when Calvin is discussing 1 Corinthians 10-11. Throughout his commentaries, Calvin frequently emphasizes that in the Supper we enjoy both the presence and the…
The recent NFL controversy–which has spread to other venues too–concerning the appropriate posture during the national anthem has had my mind running in so many directions. First, my mind went down the liturgical path. We are liturgical beings; and, therefore,…
“I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, self.” Martin Luther almost certainly never made this statement (though many have falsely attributed it to him).…
Reformed churches not only have the regulative principle worship (RPW) to guide them regarding elements and forms, but they also, throughout their history, have had liturgies and directories. The liturgies were the more restrictive (e.g. Strasburg, Geneva, Amsterdam), the directories…
