In this, the first of a short series on the discipline of confessionalism, I want to make the point that confessional Christians are those who are disciplined by their confession. What do I mean by this? Take an elder in a confessional church. He has taken public vows before the church to uphold a...

I hate to acknowledge that Paul has ever said anything worthwhile but I believe his last post is on target, both theologically (a surprise) and (by and large) in terms of grammar, syntax and spelling (thanks to Gibby for that, I believe). One further problem for the 'God actually said -- he really...

I have no time whatsoever for American sports, least of all the tedious posing that is 'football,' but Hans Madueme has drawn my attention to a very thoughtful analysis of the Superbowl by Covenant College professor, Matthew Vos. You can find it here . My only further comment would be that the...

I recently had the privilege and pleasure of spending a week with the Boys from Brazil. It was a most fascinating time. For many years now I have heard stories of how the Lord is doing great things in this huge country, how Pentecostalism is sweeping all before it. Indeed, I remember one colleague...

Paul's post on elders and accountability is most apposite. One of the elements which the recent celebrity culture in American conservative evangelicalism has fostered is the unspoken conviction that the primary ministry of a church leader does not take place at local level but at large conferences...

It is just possible that some Ref21 readers do not read the Desiring God website, given that we tend to cater for a clientele which is balder, older, heavier, less perky and generally much more like the Ancient Mariner in outlook. In which case, it is probably worth mentioning that Mike Reeves has...

I hate to disagree with Paul Levy and Scott Clark (actually, that is not true; I am perfectly happy to disagree with them) but I find myself more on the side of Pastor Tom Ascol in the matter of pastoral confidentiality. You can read his thoughts here . On a related matter, one point made to me...

It is the 450th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism and to mark the occasion and provide the church with resources on this wonderful document, Dr. Jason Van Vliet and the Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary have launched a new website . Far more attractive then Ref21 (we don't do 'attractive...

I was asked last week why some evangelicals convert to Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. Reasons vary, I am sure, but I commented that one theme I have noticed over the years is the fact that evangelicalism lacks historical roots. That is not to say that it has no history ; rather it is to...

A striking quotation from Richard Sibbes. Worth bearing in mind as you prepare to preach on the Lord's Day: Ministers by their calling are friends of the Bride, and to bring Christ and his Spouse together, and therefore ought, upon all good occasions, to lay open all the excellencies of Christ, and...

Jim Cassidy, like myself a fully-paid-up middle aged member of the Out Crowd otherwise known as the O.P.C., has reminded me that the latest edition of The Confessional Presbyterian (please don't let the spooky cover picture of Archie A put you off) has an excellent essay by Fred Zaspel on old...

A few posts ago I raised the question of the stability of individual confessional points when isolated from a more elaborate confessional framework. Perhaps I might coin a term at this point: doctrinal atomism, defined as the ability to hold with sincerity individual points of theology without...

Patrick Henry College have posted a video of Marvin Olasky interviewing Rosaria Butterfield, author of Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert . It can be viewed here .

Ok, I assume that the same kind of irrelevant anti-Establishment middle aged cranks who read the irrelevant anti-Establishment middle aged cranks on Ref21 also read the evangelically de-centred gospelite Others at TeamPyro, but, just in case any of you don't, Frank Turk has a fine piece up on their...

British evangelical leader, Steve Chalke, has now come to accept the legitimacy of monogamous homosexual unions in a Christian context, or so reports the UK's Independent . This is of more than just passing interest because Chalke famously caused a furore about a decade ago when he repudiated penal...

The schedule for the Gospel Coalition's biennial conference this spring is now available. The line-up makes for interesting reading and it is definitely good to see that the question of Adam and Eve's historicity will be addressed. It is one of the big questions in the evangelical world at this...

It seems it might be helpful to clarify my earlier reference to preachers merely setting up virtual equivalents of themselves to carry the church into the indefinite future. Nobody, as far as I know, has yet made the suggestion - although I do not tend to hang around in circles where such is likely...

Here is a fascinating interview with Jaron Lanier, web-insider who is now doing the Winston Smith thing. I was particularly impressed by this paragraph: Lanier has another problem with the techno-utopians, though. It's not just that they've crashed the economy, but that they've made a joke out of...

This video has been doing the rounds over the last few days. It is difficult to tell if it is ironic or not; though 'American Christian feminists' makes me think the (male) Catholic priests who during my youth flooded into Cheltenham each year for Gold Cup Week would have considered placing a...

It was good to be a middle aged has-been (or, perhaps more accurately, 'never-was') this Christmas. While I poured myself a brandy and listened at leisure to the long-awaited Celebration Day and Mark Knopfler's new album, Privateering , I took some perverse satisfaction from the thought that...

The latest edition of Ordained Servant , the Orthodox Presbyterian Church's journal for officebearers is online. Of particular interest is T. David Gordon's review of Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by M.I.T.professor, Sherry Turkle.

I notice that Logos have posted a short interview with my revered former WTS colleague and now my long-suffering session clerk, Dick Gaffin, on the eminent New Testament scholar, Herman Ridderbos , whose works are being offered on pre-pub.

A friend who is about to start a Ph.D. in church history emailed me the other day regarding Gregory of Nyssa's biography of his sister, Macrina. The work is a piece of unabashed hagiography. How do historians handle this sort of thing? he asked. I assume that that was a polite way of asking 'Should...

A summary of the last six months on Ref21, translated from original by haiku master, Kobayashi Issa. Old looney tuned hymn Bull (papal) from Ealing manse One hand clapping sound.