Monthly Archives: September 2010

I’m Brilliant (at least religiously)

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 30, 2010

The new Pew Forum Poll on religious knowledge in the U.S. is out and generating comments at different blogs. The general theme is how ignorant Americans are. But any American can take a sample quiz and see whether they are that dumb. I took it and it turns out I am smart. I can’t say… Read More→

Posted in Wilderness Wanderings | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Where’s Waldo Wednesday

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 29, 2010

One reason for questioning the influence of union with Christ on Reformed Protestants concerns the language of Reformed devotion. Hymns are one measure of devotional discourse and the more I sing out of the Trinity Hymnal, the more I am struck by the centrality of the cross and of forensic themes in the songs Presbyterians… Read More→

Posted in Application of Redemption | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Two-Kingdom Tuesday: The Roman Catholic Version

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 28, 2010

The contemporary vocal critics of modern 2k often remark that everyone is 2k, meaning that it is wrong for modern 2k advocates to paint them as 1k. The Roman Catholic expression of 2k doctrine qualifies that claim in important ways. First, it suggests that not everyone is 2k since the Eastern Church allowed itself to… Read More→

Posted in spirituality of the church | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Having Your Constitution and Obeying It Too

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 27, 2010

One of the notable inconsistencies of so-called social conservatives in the United States is the disparity between wanting government to legislate morality and wanting government to be small. This isn’t simply a question of “gotcha” politics, it is a serious matter of political theory and historical inquiry. Is the ideal of American government one of… Read More→

Posted in Novus Ordo Seclorum | Tagged , , , , , , | 105 Comments

All Sermons Are Not Created Equal

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 27, 2010

The one’s preached in the nation’s capitaol are more important than the ones in the provinces. Not really, though some transformationalists and faith-based urbanists might be tempted to think so. Instead, the point of a new fall lecture series at Christ Reformed Church in Washington, D.C., (yes, that nation’s capitaol) is to understand better what… Read More→

Posted in Shock and Awe | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

George Washington: Deistic Christian

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 24, 2010

Joe Carter at First Things‘ blog has a helpful summary of one historian’s criteria for evaluating the faith of the United State’s founding statesmen. David Holmes is the author of The Faiths of the Founders and he offers four categories for determining whether a politician was a Deist, an orthodox Christian, or something in between.… Read More→

Posted in spirituality of the church | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Submit or Suppress?

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 24, 2010

Despite the modern Reformed churches’ rejection of older confessional views about the responsibility of the magistrate for true religion in the realm, apparently the idea of a ruler who can crack down on idolatry and suppress heresy still appeals, at least if some of the comments at blogs are an indication. I think I understand… Read More→

Posted in Christian politics | Tagged , , , , , | 80 Comments

Make My Joy Complete?

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 23, 2010

After last night’s Phillies’ 1-0 victory over the Braves — their tenth in-a-row — it is hard not to feel down-right gleeful as a Phillies fan. Not only have the Phils seemed to work out many kinks from an injury ridden season and a poor first half, but they are doing this without Jimmy Rollins… Read More→

Posted in Wilderness Wanderings | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Where’s Waldo Wednesday

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 22, 2010

I am still wondering about the advisability of turning union into a polemical doctrine that divides Reformed Protestants and Lutherans. Benjamin Warfield supplies support for that wonder. CALVINISM AND LUTHERANISM It is unfortunate that a great body of the scientific discussion which, since Max Goebel (“Die religiose Eigenthumlichkeit der lutherischen und der reformirten Kirchen,” Bonn,… Read More→

Posted in Application of Redemption | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Point of Order: Even for Covenanters 2k Is Confessional

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 20, 2010

The grenade that Tim Bayly tossed about the infidelity of 2k ministers sent a lot of shrapnel flying over at Greenbaggins where critics of 2k have repeatedly claimed that two-kingdom theology is outside the bounds of Reformed confessionalism. (So far Rabbi Bret has yet to weigh in directly. Since the Baylys treated him the way… Read More→

Posted in Christian politics | Tagged , , | 60 Comments