Category Archives: Confessionalism

Two-Kingdom Theology and Professional Sports Fans

By D. G. Hart | Published: November 3, 2011
tim-tebow-2

Protestant athletes are in the news — Tim Tebow, of Bible-verse eyeblack fame, and David Freese of World Series heroism (thanks to our D.C. correspondent). The reasons for the attention to these athletes say a lot about the differences between evangelicalism and confessional Protestantism. Practically anyone who watches sports knows that Tebow is a Christian… Read More→

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Machen Day 2011

By D. G. Hart | Published: July 28, 2011

I am not sure if our favorite PCA blogger had J. Gresham Machen’s birthday in mind when he posted a piece on the fortunes of Machen’s kind of confessionalism within the PCA, but it was good preparation for today’s festivities. The same goes for Westminster Seminary California which has released Scott Clark’s interview with me… Read More→

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The Danger of Revivals and of Their Critics

By D. G. Hart | Published: July 8, 2011

Our favorite PCA blogger has once again kicked up a little e-dust with a review of Kenneth Stewart’s new book, Ten Myths about Calvinism: Recovering the Breadth of the Reformed Tradition. The review itself is worth reading, as is a subsequent post that explains the author’s perspective (the author being pastor William H. Smith aka… Read More→

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Confession of Faith or Health Care Legislation?

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 4, 2010

My confession of faith is not the Westminster Confession. It is the confession of my communion, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Of course, our confession bears many resemblances to the Westminster Confession. But if folks look at the publication of our confession, neatly produced by the Committee on Christian Education, it reads, the “Confession of Faith… Read More→

Also posted in Paleo Calvinism | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments

If George Washington Gets A Pass, Why Not William Ernest Hocking?

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

Well, one reason is that Washington was the nation’s first president and the U.S. Capitol has a whole lot of hullabaloo about him as a divine-like being (see the image of Washington’s apotheosis). Hocking, by contrast, was merely a professor of philosophy at Harvard University. As positions go, teaching at Harvard is not too shabby,… Read More→

Also posted in spirituality of the church | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Forensic Friday: You Say Klinean, I Say Repristination

By D. G. Hart | Published: May 7, 2010

In the current issue of the Westminster Theological Journal, William Evans from Esrkine College, has an article offering a taxonomy of the current debates over the doctrine of union. In the repristinationist wing he puts Westminster California. He even specifies that the revisionism of Shepherd and Federal Vision provoked the repristinationist effort. The other group… Read More→

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Getting over the Puritans, Say Hello to the Huguenots

By D. G. Hart | Published: April 14, 2010

I cannot say enough good things about Philip Benedict’s Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed: A Social History of Calvinism (Yale University Press, 2002). Among the reasons for recommending the book, aside from careful scholarship and judicious conclusions, is Benedict’s attention to the variety of Reformed expressions as they took shape in diverse cultural and political contexts.… Read More→

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If Only Kuyperians Were As Reasonable as Godfrey

By D. G. Hart | Published: April 9, 2010

Over at Confessional Outhouse, RubeRad (what’s up with those names?) has a quotation from Bob Godfrey’s address at the Westminster California conference on Christ and culture. Here it is: As is often true in the history of the church, we [Kuyperians and 2K-ers] may not all perfectly agree what the Bible says, but I think… Read More→

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Why the PCA Needs the Spirituality of the Church

By D. G. Hart | Published: March 4, 2010

Regular readers of Oldlife know about the imbroglio between the Brothers Bayly and those who hold two-kingdoms and the spirituality of the church. The major objection apparently is that these doctrines won’t let the church do what activists on certain moral issues want the church to do in the public square (you know, bad ju… Read More→

Also posted in Jure Divino Presbyterianism | Tagged , , , , , | 68 Comments

Where’s Waldo Wednesday

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

As part of oldlife’s continuing effort to assist in clarifying the Reformed faith and overcoming unnecessary disagreements, we will be featuring a number of quotations on the application of redemption from noted Reformed theologians. What drives this series is an effort to understand how the doctrine of union with Christ has or has not functioned… Read More→

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