Monthly Archives: June 2011

Is This Where Neo-Calvinism Leads?

Our favorite PCA blogger (why? He’s more my age than Stellman) has adapted an older article from the Nicotine Theological Journal for his blog, calling it “Bye, Bye Kuyper.” Here is an excerpt: Christians have come to believe that they worship God as much in their weekday jobs as they do on the Lord’s Day… Read More→

Posted in spirituality of the church | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Feed My Sheep — With Fast Food?

Over at Mere Orthodoxy a couple of posts have tried to identify two wings of the Young, Restless, and Reformed “movement” by applying the labels Old School and New School. Since many members of the PCA and OPC would even be unaware of this nineteenth-century division among American Presbyterians and what it meant, I was… Read More→

Posted in Jure Divino Presbyterianism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 53 Comments

Mark Driscoll Has Some ‘Splaining To Do

A story about megachurch multi-site projects at Christianity Today contains an arresting quotation from the Mars Hill corporation. Driscoll’s church is planning to plant a church in Portland, Oregon and the justification runs as follows: The city of Portland is known for many things, but the gospel of Jesus is nowhere on the list. Let’s… Read More→

Posted in Miscellany | Tagged , , , , , , | 82 Comments

Orthodox Presbyterians Rival Gospel Co-Allies Enthusiasm for Enthusiasm

General Assemblies are not always like this but the recent OPC GA did assume more the character of a national preaching conference (of course, minus the celebrity pastors) than a regular meeting of the church’s highest judicial body. All of the presentations from the OPC’s standing committees included historical overviews as well as substantial edification… Read More→

Posted in New World Presbyterianism, Piety with Excitement, Shameless Selves Promotion | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Alliances, Ecumencity, and Being Reformed

The OPC’s 75th anniversary also coincided with the regular meeting of General Assembly. My pastor, whose energy consumes more calories in a day than I devour in the course of a week, wrote the daily report and perusing his summary reminds me of an important point about communions like the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The pastor’s… Read More→

Posted in Jure Divino Presbyterianism | Tagged , , , , | 30 Comments

Which Father, Whose Children?

(TMI alert) I am inclined to follow the pattern established by my father in the Hart home of listening to Christian radio on the Lord’s Day. Since I listen to the regular radio during the week, listening to the “other kind” of radio on Sundays is a way to set the day apart. My wife… Read More→

Posted in Miscellany | 21 Comments

Where’s Waldo (A Day After) Wednesday: Someone Needs to Call A Union Summit

Over at Justin Taylor’s blog comes word that Dane Ortlund has published an article on the relationship between justification and sanctification in the writings of Bavinck and Berkouwer. The summary point is as follows: . . . these two Dutch Reformed thinkers are united in their understanding of justification as the self-conscious means of sanctification.… Read More→

Posted in Application of Redemption | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Law Coalition

While working on a talk for a conference last week hosted and attended by academic conservatives, I revisited the Manhattan Declaration. My point was that so many who think themselves conservative think they also take religion seriously by injecting faith into public affairs. But what ends up happening most often is that the complexities and… Read More→

Posted in Jure Divino Presbyterianism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 40 Comments

An Anniversary that Deserves More than a Mug

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church turns 75 today. Festivities have so far included lectures, presentations from the General Secretaries of the Assembly’s standing committees, a banquet tonight, and the opportunity to purchase handsome coffee mugs. Thankfully, the Assembly’s organizers resisted the chief temptation of our time — t-shirts (which are fine to wear under shirts with… Read More→

Posted in J. Gresham Machen, Shameless Selves Promotion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Oldlife.org 201: Wit and Sarcasm

The first installment in this series about this blog was to clarify what a blog is. One aspect that I did not mention was that the more successful blogs are provocative – that is, they agitate readers and that’s why people come back. The most successful blogger in the world arguably is Andrew Sullivan, the… Read More→

Posted in Miscellany | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 43 Comments